Professor Vernon Gibson CB FRS

Vernon Gibson was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire and educated at The King’s School, Grantham followed by the University of Sheffield where he studied Chemistry and graduated with a First Class Special Honours degree in 1980. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford in 1983 for research supervised by Malcolm LH Green FRS. He then spent two years as a NATO postdoctoral research fellow with the US chemist, John E Bercaw at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Gibson is Executive Director of the BP International Centre for Advanced Materials. He was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence from 2012 to 2016 and Chief Chemist at BP plc from 2008 to 2012. Prior to this he was the Sir Edward Frankland Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Imperial College London where, following foundations laid in the Chemistry Department at the University of Durham, he developed an international reputation for his fundamental studies on metal complexes and discoveries of new catalyst systems for the production of commercially relevant polymers.

Professional position

  • Formerly Chief Scientific Adviser, Ministry of Defence
  • Executive Chair, BP International Centre for Advanced Materials, University of Manchester
  • Honorary Professor in Science and Engineering, The University of Manchester
  • Member, BP Technology Advisory Council
  • Visiting Professor, University of Oxford

Subject groups

  • Chemistry

    Chemistry, materials, Chemistry, applied, Chemistry, inorganic

  • Other

    Science policy

Professor Vernon Gibson CB FRS
Elected 2004
Committees Participated Role
Sectional Committee 3: Chemistry December 2004 - November 2007 Member