Talk:Tristram Chivers

Edit request (made 21:04, 21 December 2021 UTC)

• What I think should be changed (include citations):

Paragraph 2, after “in Canada.” Insert: “He is also a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada (1979) and the Royal Society of Chemistry, U.K. (1980)”.

-- I can't access Canadian Who's Who, and I have found only an undated source for CIC fellowship, which I added. Fiske (talk) 13:42, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

Early life and education after “R.D. Chambers”: Insert “He was awarded the DSc degree by Durham University in 1981.”

-- Done Fiske (talk) 13:42, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

Career and research End of first paragraph, after “Professor in 1978.” Insert: “He served as the Head of the Department of Chemistry (1977 – 1982) and held the title of University Professor from 2003 to 2006. Chivers has also held Visiting Professor appointments at the University of Bristol, U.K. (1975-76), University of Toronto (1983), University of Sao Carlos, Brazil (1986), University of Oulu, Finland (1993), University of California at Santa Barbara (2001), and University of St Andrews, Scotland (2009).”

-- Added head of chemistry, which I could source to the Burford article. Fiske (talk) 13:42, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

End of second paragraph After “from his laboratory”.[2] Insert: “In the 1980s Chivers also made pioneering contributions to the direct thermal decomposition of hydrogen sulfide to hydrogen and sulfur using transition-metal or alkali-metal sulfide catalysts, a topic of burgeoning interest in view of the current focus on the hydrogen economy.

New paragraph insert: In the 1990s the Chivers group turned their attention to the chemistry of heavy chalcogens. The discovery of a convenient synthesis of SeCl2 is used widely for the synthesis of organoselenium compounds of pharmaceutical interest or in materials applications. Detailed investigations of the cyclocondensation reactions of SeCl2 with primary amines led to the characterization of a unique series of imidoselenium dichlorides as intermediates in the formation of a wide variety of selenium-nitrogen ring compounds (collaboration with R. S. Laitinen),

Chivers has also contributed influential discoveries in tellurium chemistry including the first structural characterization of dimeric tellurium(IV) dimers, as well as telluradiazole dimers, that provide benchmarks for secondary bonding interactions in chalcogen-nitrogen compounds. A novel approach to anionic ligands with phosphorus-tellurium linkages enabled investigations of metal complexes that serve as precursors to metal telluride thin films and nanomaterials (collaboration with P. O’Brien).

In a different area of main group inorganic chemistry, the exploitation of isoelectronic relationships opened new areas of inorganic cluster chemistry involving nitrogen analogues of common oxo anions that led to the discovery of a new classes of inorganic radicals.”

End of third paragraph, after “(CSC) (2000-2001).” Insert: “He also served as Chair (1981-1982) and Group Chair (1996-1999) of the Chemistry Grant Selection Committee, Natural Sciences an Engineering Research Council, Canada.”

• Why it should be changed:

The existing profile is accurate but lacking in some details; these additions are, neutral, accurate and add value to the scope of Dr. Chivers' work.

• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Celerysticker (talk) 21:04, 21 December 2025 (UTC)

@Celerysticker: Reading through this: the first and second additions look fine, and Who's Who is adequate for these simple facts.

The third item (all his many appointments) is overly detailed for an encylcopaedia (more appropriate to a CV or biosketch). Certainly, the dates of the visiting appointments are unnecessary, and perhaps more.

The fourth and subsequent items include the kind of words that Wikipedia considers promotional ("pioneering", "burgeoning", "influential"). But the major problem is to show that these contributions are notable -- Who's Who can't carry that, you need some secondary sources that refer to Dr. Chiver's work. Those should surely exist, but as Wikipedia editor I don't know what they are. Can you add some secondary or tertiary sources?

The NSERC work probably deserves a mention. Fiske (talk) 22:14, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

@Celerysticker: I've implemented those portions of the lead and early life sections that I could source (I do not have access to Canadian Who's Who). I did not find a separate source for Fellow of the RSC (which surprises me) or for the title of University Professor.

The passages on his career need revision and better sourcing, as I mentioned in my previous comment. The tribute article by Burford is helpful in this regard, but a broader set of sources should be used.

If you have time to do these edits, post the revision to this talk page, reopen the request, and ping me, {{ping|Fiske}}. I am going to close this request for the present. Fiske (talk) 13:52, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

References

Edit request (made 21:22, 21 December 2021 UTC)

• What I think should be changed (include citations):

An Awards section should be added:

1984. Killam Research Fellowship, University of Calgary

1987. Alcan Lecture Award, Canadian Society for Chemistry

1990. Award of Excellence for Research, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary

1993. Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.) Award for Main Group Chemistry

2000. President’s Circle Award for Excellence in Research, University of Calgary

2001. E. W. R. Steacie Award, Canadian Society for Chemistry

2003. Killam Research Fellowship, University of Calgary

2003. Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, University of Calgary

2004. Montreal Medal, Chemical Institute of Canada

2006. D. Sc. Honoris Causa, University of Oulu, Finland

2008. Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Science Award, Alberta Science and Technology

2025. Wolfgang Günther Award for Lifetime Achievements in Selenium and Tellurium Chemistry

At the University of Calgary, Chivers has received Teaching Excellence Awards from the Undergraduate Students’ Union (1993 and 1998), the Graduate Students’ Association (1997), and the Faculty of Science (2004).

Journal articles should be updated to reflect current publications. Insert the following articles in the correct chronological order in the current list:

Bojes, J.; Chivers, T.; Laidlaw, W. G.; Trsic, M. (1979). The crystal and molecular structure of [n-Bu4N][S3N3] and the vibrational structure of the trisulfur trinitride anion.

Chivers, T.; Gao, X.; Parvez, M. (1996). Preparation, crystal structures, and isomerization of tellurium diimide dimers: X-ray structures of the telluradiazole dimer [t-Bu2C6H2N2Te]2.

Briand, G.; Chivers, T.; Parvez, M. (2002). A new approach to metalated imido and amido tellurophosphoranes.

Armstrong, A.; Chivers, T.; Parvez, M.; Boeré, R. T. (2004). Stable phosphorus-containing cubic radicals.

Garje, S. S.; Eisler, D. J.; Ritch, J. S.; Afzaal, M.; O’Brien, P.; Chivers, T. A new route to antimony telluride nanoplates from a single-source precursor. (2006).

Steudel, R.; Chivers, T. The role of polysulfide dianions and radical anions in the chemical, physical and biological sciences, including sulfur-based batteries. (2019).

• Why it should be changed:

The existing profile is accurate but lacking in some details; these additions demonstrate the importance of Dr. Chivers' work. And the updated Journal Articles are a better demonstration of his publications.

• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Celerysticker (talk) 21:22, 21 December 2025 (UTC)

@Celerysticker: On the whole, these are good additions. In fact, it's appalling that no awards are mentioned in the current page. I do have some suggestions.

Awards: It's important to note that Wikipedia should be limited to what's objectively noteworthy - think encyclopaedia, not CV. Among the awards, my reading is that the following extramural awards are most significant (but feel free to correct me):

1993. Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.) Award for Main Group Chemistry

2001. E. W. R. Steacie Award, Canadian Society for Chemistry

2006. D. Sc. Honoris Causa, University of Oulu, Finland

2008. Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Science Award, Alberta Science and Technology

2025. Wolfgang Günther Award for Lifetime Achievements in Selenium and Tellurium Chemistry

It would really be better to have a range of sources for all these awards, rather than hanging so much onto a single Who's Who article. The larger awards and honorary degree may have gotten some press coverage or at least have been noted in a professional society publication. The ICCST-16 source is a conference web page (these have a notorious habit of disappearing after the conference).

Papers: GoogleScholar shows that most of these have more than 100 citations. Five papers are already on the page, and adding these six makes a longish list. Is it really necessary to keep the one on "stable cubic phosphorus", which is the least well-cited? (I'm sure it's a good paper, but again, encyclopaedia not CV).

For these new papers, it would be very helpful if you could edit them to the reference style already used for the papers in the article. Fiske (talk) 22:02, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

I have found links for the 5 awards I noted, added those and added five of the requested papers. Fiske (talk) 14:24, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

References

Photograph would be helpful

@Celerysticker: (or anyone else!) Perhaps you can add a photograph of Dr. Chivers to Wikimedia? It could then be used here. See Wikimedia Upload Wizard. NB: you must be able to release the rights when uploading. Fiske (talk) 22:36, 7 May 2026 (UTC)