Born Nov. 9, 1897, in Cambridge. British physical chemist.

After graduating from Cambridge University in 1915, Norrish was assigned to military duty in Europe during World War I; he became a prisoner of war in 1918. After the war, he undertook research work and began teaching, mainly at Cambridge University, where he served as director of the department of physical chemistry from 1937 to 1965. His main works are devoted to the kinetics of chemical processes. In 1967, Norrish, together with G. Porter and M. Eigen, was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for work on extremely fast chemical reactions.