| Honorific Prefix: | Professor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John Howard Purnell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Honorific Suffix: | OBE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 17 August 1925 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Rhondda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death Place: | Swansea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | Cardiff University, University of Cambridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Known For: | Chemistry, Gas Chromatography | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Howard Purnell OBE FRSC[1] (17 August 1925 Rhondda, South Wales — 12 January 1996 Swansea, Wales)[2] was a Welsh chemist.
He attended Maes y Dderwen County School in Ystradgynlais before attending Pentre Secondary School.[3]
After graduating with a first class honours in chemistry at University College, Cardiff in 1946 he went on to the University of Wales and received a PhD in 1952.
Purnell began to work in the field of gas chromatography in this field in 1952 at Cambridge University while working with Professor R. G. W. Norrish. In 1965 he became Professor of Physical Chemistry at University College, Swansea where he remained until his retirement in 1992.
He was president of the Royal Society of Chemistry between 1994 and 1996.