Balasubramaniam Kathirgamathamby obituary

My father, Balasubramaniam Kathirgamathamby, who has died of cancer aged 69, was a senior research chemist who specialised in coatings and formulation chemistry, developing fireproof architectural coatings, barnacle-resistant marine paints and drug excipients. He also invented a variant of the pigment ultramarine.

His interest in ultramarine began while learning of its use in the Taj Mahal during part-time study for an archaeology degree at the North East London Polytechnic (now University of East London) in the late 1970s. This interest stayed with him and, many years later, while working for Holliday Pigments as a research chemist, he invented a method of making a pigment composition that did not possess the limitations (instability and decomposition) associated with ultramarine in acidic conditions. Removing these limitations enabled ultramarine to be used in applications such as plastics, inks and paints.