Professor Allen Hill FRS

The Department is sad to announce the death of Professor Allen Hill FRS. A graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast, Allen Hill came to the Department of Chemistry in 1962 and became a Fellow of The Queen’s College, Oxford in 1965, retiring in 2004. He and his research group made seminal contributions to the electrochemistry of redox-active proteins. In particular, work carried out in the early 1980s paved the way for the development of electronic blood glucose sensors which came to market in 1989 and which have revolutionised the management of diabetes globally. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990 and amongst many medals and awards from learned societies around the world he received the prestigious Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 2010 for his pioneering work on protein electrochemistry. The work on the glucose sensor, carried out in the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, was also recognised in 2012 as a National Chemical Landmark by the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was vigorous in successfully bringing the glucose sensor to market in the 1980s paving the way for many subsequent spin-outs from the Department of Chemistry.

Allen Hill was an inspiring mentor to a number of researchers who have gone on to lead teams in academia and in industry. He will be remembered by those who knew him as a very warm, giving and humorous member of the Department and he will be sadly missed by many around the World. Details of arrangements for a memorial service will be announced in due course.