Gaston Vermeersch †

Prof Gaston Vermeersch was born in France in 1949.

His training was twofold – both as a scientist and a pharmacist. He obtained the titles of Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Rights and Health (Lille 2) in 1981 and of Doctor ès Sciences at the University of Sciences and Technology of Lille (Lille 1) in 1982. He was appointed Professor of Biophysics at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Amiens in 1988, then at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Lille in 1992 in the Physics Laboratory where he had begun his academic career and where he set up Lille2's Laboratory for NMR Application. He is the leader of the “NMR and Photochemistry” group within the CNRS UMR 8009 (Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Laboratory).

His interest in research has always centred on photochemistry and NMR spectroscopy. Between 1974 and 1996, he developed the Photo-CIDNP (Chemically Induced Dynamic Nuclear Polarisation) technique on middle field NMR spectrometers to study radical mechanisms occurring during photoreactions of azaaromatic molecules and photosensitising drugs as well as during photooxidation reactions. Since 1996, he has applied NMR to study photochromic mechanisms. He is also interested in the NMR of biological fluids.