British Dyestuffs: Award of the Perkin Medal

Abstract

THE Perkin Medal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists has been awarded to Mr. James Baddiley, of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd., “in recognition of his national services for the renaissance of the British dyestuffs industry through many important investigations in the field of colour chemistry* conducted or directed by him”. In the thirty years since its inauguration, the Medal has only been awarded eleven times-four tunes to Englishmen, three times to Germans, three times to Frenchmen and once to an Alsatian. In an address delivered after the presentation, Mr. Baddiley said that great progress has been made in dyestuffs laboratory technique, such as the use of X-ray diffraction methods for determining molecular structure, optical diffraction in the visible and ultra-violet bands, and cathode-ray refraction. In the dyeing of cotton, substantial advances have been made, particularly with regard to light fastness. In the direct cotton colour field constant research had been given to straight-chain poly-azo dyes with 2-5-7 amino-naphthol-sulphonic acid and its derivatives as end-component, and this line of research had led to the production of the Durazols, which are representative of direct cotton colours of high fastness to light.