John Beynon was a Senior Research Associate with the Dyestuffs Division of Imperial Chemical Industries. The papers and books he published deal mainly with the development of mass spectrometry and its purposeful application to structural organic chemistry. He was one of the first to recognise the value of the technique and has been a pioneer in the use of high resolution methods. His book in 1960 was the first authoritative work on the subject.
He combined original work in organic chemistry with the development of the experimental technique in his field with the running of an industrial laboratory. He successfully bridged the gap between industry and university research as evidenced by the frequency with which he was invited to lecture to academic audiences in the United Kingdom and abroad. This was recognised by his election to a University Visiting Professorship.
