Hibbert, Harold, 1877-1945

Harold Hibbert was born in Manchester, England, and earned his B.Sc. (1897), M.Sc. (1900) and D.Sc. (1901) degrees from Victoria College in Manchester. In 1906 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig. From 1899 to 1904, Hibbert taught chemistry at the University College of Wales, and after 1906 became an instructor at Tufts College in Boston. Hibbert also worked as a research chemist at DuPont and Co. (1910-1914), the Mellon Institute (1914-1916) and at Yale University (1916-1919). He was Professor of Chemistry at Yale from 1919 until 1925, when he came to McGill as E.B. Eddy Professor of Cellulose Chemistry. Most of his research was conducted at the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada on cellulose and lignin but he held patents for a wide variety of products (e.g. explosives, antifreeze, organic solvents) and served as a consultant for many types of enterprises ranging from mines to flour mills. He was also McGill's representative to the Pulp and Paper Institute of Canada. He retired in 1943 and passed away two years later.