Dyson Perrins Laboratory

The Dyson Perrins Laboratory is in the science area of the University of Oxford and was the main centre for research into organic chemistry of the University from its foundation in 1916 until its closure as a research laboratory in 2003.

[1] Until 2018, parts of the building were used as teaching laboratories in which undergraduate students were trained in practical organic chemistry.

It was founded with an endowment from Charles Dyson Perrins, heir to the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce company, and stands on the north side of South Parks Road in Oxford.

The heads of the laboratory were the four consecutive Waynflete Professors of Chemistry: During its 87-year working life, the laboratory had an extremely distinguished career; it can claim a stake in shaping the scientific careers of two Nobel Laureates, namely Lord Todd (1957) and Sir John W. Cornforth (1975) who passed their formative years as young chemists in the laboratories.

The building of the laboratory began in 1913 and was finished in 1916 to the designs of Paul Waterhouse, the contractors being Armitage and Hodgson of Leeds.