Leon Francis Phillips (14 July 1935 – 24 September 2023) was a New Zealand physical chemist who specialised in the gas-liquid interface and atmospheric chemistry.

Born in Thames on 14 July 1935, Phillips was educated at Westport Technical College and Christchurch Boys' High School.^[1] He studied at Canterbury University College, from where he graduated with an MSc with first-class honours in 1958.^[2] After a PhD at the University of Cambridge and post-doctoral research at McGill University, he returned to lecture at Canterbury, rising to the rank of professor in 1966.^[3]

In 1968, Phillips was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand,^[4] and in 1979 he won the society's Hector Medal.^[5]

In 1959, Phillips married Pamela Anne Johnstone, and the couple went on to have two children.^[1] He died in Christchurch on 24 September 2023, at the age of 88.^[6][7]

• Phillips, Leon Francis (1967). Electronics for experimenters in chemistry, physics and biology. New York: Wiley.
• Phillips, Leon Francis (1965). Basic quantum chemistry. New York: Wiley.
• McEwan, Murray J.; Phillips, Leon Francis (1975). Chemistry of the atmosphere. London: Wiley. ISBN 0713124776.