Edmund Bowen

Edmund John Bowen
View in Dr Bowen's Room at University College, Oxford, including a photographic portrait of E. J. Bowen held by the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Born	(1898-04-29)29 April 1898 Worcester, England
Died	19 November 1980(1980-11-19) (aged 82) Oxford, England
Nationality	British
Fields	Physical chemistry,
Institutions	University College, Oxford
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Doctoral advisor	Sir Harold Brewer Hartley
Doctoral students	Ahsan Ullah Khan Walter Sidney Metcalf
Known for	The Chemical Aspects of Light,fluorescence
Notable awards	Davy Medal (1963) Fellow of the Royal Society

Edmund ("Ted") John Bowen FRS (29 April 1898 – 19 November 1980) was a British physical chemist.

Born in Worcester, England, E. J. Bowen attended the Royal Grammar School Worcester. He won the Brackenbury Scholarship in 1915 and 1916 to the University of Oxford where he studied chemistry. He returned to Balliol College after serving as Second Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery during World War I and in 1922 became a Fellow of University College, Oxford. At University College he served as Domestic Bursar and as Junior Proctor of the University in 1936.

Created a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1935 for his research into fluorescence, he was awarded the Davy Medal in 1963. He wrote a seminal book called The Chemical Aspects of Light. He was President of the Faraday Society and Vice-President of the Chemical Society.

Much of Bowen's research work was carried out at the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories in Oxford. His 1966 Liversedge Lecture on Fluorescence was based on his life's research. After retirement in June 1965, he was elected as an Honorary Fellow of University College on 6 October 1965. He was one of the longest serving Fellows of that college (43 years as an ordinary Fellow and a total of 59 years). There is a room in the college named after him. He was also a prominent Worcester Old Elizabethan serving on its Committee for many years and organising the Oxford branch of that club.