Wallace Akers
| Sir Wallace Akers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
9 September 1888 Walthamstow, England |
| Died | 1 November 1954 (aged 66) Alton, Hampshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Aldenham School |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Occupation | Chemist and industrialist |
| Years active | 1911–53 |
| Employer |
Brunner Mond Borneo Company Imperial Chemical Industries Tube Alloys |
| Known for | Director of the Tube Alloys project |
Sir Wallace Alan Akers CBE FRS (9 September 1888 – 1 November 1954) was a British chemist and industrialist. Beginning his academic career at Oxford he specialized in physical chemistry. During the Second World War, he was the director of the Tube Alloys project, a clandestine programme aiming to research and develop British atomic weapons capabilities, from 1941 to 1945. After the war he was director of research at Imperial Chemical Industries. He also served as a member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the committee that drew up the organisation of what became the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. He died in 1954 at the age of 66.
Wallace Alan Akers was born in Walthamstow, England, the second child of an accountant, Charles Akers, and his wife, Mary Ethelreda née Brown. He was educated at Lake House School in Bexhill-on-Sea, Essex, and Aldenham School in Hertfordshire. He entered Christ Church, Oxford, where he specialised in physical chemistry, graduating with first class honours in 1909.
After university, he joined Brunner Mond & Company in Winnington, Cheshire, as a researcher. In 1924 he joined the Borneo Company, where he served as its general manager in the Far East. He returned to England in 1928 to join Imperial Chemical Industries, into which Brunner Mond had earlier merged. In 1931 he became the chairman of the Billingham division of ICI. This was mainly concerned with the manufacture of ammonia using hydrogen under high pressure, ammonia being one of the company's most profitable products at the time.
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