John Iball came from Flintshire farming stock.
He went to University College, Bangor, in 1925, completing his Honours degree in Physics in 1928. After spending the next year doing a Teaching Diploma he joined Professor Edwin Owen as a research student, obtaining his M.Sc. (1930) and Ph.D. (1932) for X-ray studies on metals, using powder photographs.
He moved to the Royal Institution (London) to work with Sir William Bragg, the founder of modern crystallography in Britain. John Iball's work at the Royal Institution laid the foundation for a lifetime interest in the molecular structure of cancer producing aromatic compounds. This work continued at the Chester Beatty Research Institute and subsequently in Dundee. He developed the Iball Index relating structural features of molecules to the danger of cancer from working with them.
After war service at the Rocket Range at Aberporth he worked briefly with Unilever before coming to University College, Dundee, as Gibb Fellow of the British Empire Cancer Campaign. This Fellowship was held first in the Physics Department and later in the Chemistry Department. No fewer than six of his former students have lectured in the University of Dundee.
John finally retired in 1974 but he retained an active interest in research and continued to publish his results for many years. He was always a welcome and helpful visitor to the laboratory. We believe that he published 99 papers but we are sure that John, as an excellent scientist, would enjoy the estimate of error as +- 1 on that figure.
Apart from his academic work John realised the importance of explaining the University to the wider community. He was active in 'Town and Gown' relationships and was always eager to help local industry with any scientific problems within his very wide interests. He was involved in the formation of the local section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and served as Chairman for many years.
John's wife Margaret predeceased him and he is survived by his only daughter Dorothy.
John C. Barnes