Harold Warris Thompson

Sir Harold Warris Thompson, CBE, FRS (15 February 1908 – 31 December 1983) was an English physical chemist, who served as chairman of the Football Association.

Harold Thompson was born in Wombwell, Yorkshire, the son of William Thompson, a colliery executive, and Charlotte Emily. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Sheffield, then at Trinity College, Oxford, where he was tutored by Cyril Norman Hinshelwood.

Thompson graduated in 1929 and worked with Fritz Haber and Max Planck in Berlin. He returned to Oxford in 1930 after receiving a Ph.D. from the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin. He was a Fellow and later Vice-President of St John's College, Oxford.

Thompson was described as an inspiring teacher. His research interests included chemical reactions in gases, and spectroscopy. During the Second World War he worked on infra-red spectroscopy for the Ministry of Aircraft Production, and afterwards continued research in this field. Thompson was an Oxford chemistry don who had taught Margaret Thatcher when she was a chemistry student.