APS Member History

1	Name:	Dr. Jiri Jonas
	Institution:	Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology; University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
	Year Elected:	2003
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Living
	Birth Date:	1932

	Jiri Jonas received his Ph.D. from the Czechoslovak Academy of Science in 1960. He moved to the United States in 1963 to join the faculty of the University of Illinois where he has remained throughout his career. He is now Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Professor Emeritus of the Center for Advanced Study, and Director Emeritus of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Jiri Jonas has been a pioneer in developing and using high pressure NMR to study the structure and dynamics of liquids, including liquids in small pores, the effect of compression on reaction rates in solution, and, in recent years, the conformation of protein molecules and membranes, the mechanism of protein folding and cold denaturation of proteins. In addition, as Director of the Beckman Institute for the past nine years he developed the largest university-operated organization for interdisciplinary research involving engineering, chemistry and physiological psychology. Significant useful devices have resulted. Dr. Jonas received the Hildebrand Award of the American Chemical Society and the U.S. Senior Scientist Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2003.

2	Name:	Dr. Christopher Walsh
	Institution:	Harvard Medical School
	Year Elected:	2003
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Deceased
	Birth Date:	1944
	Death Date:	January 10, 2023

	Christopher Walsh is a great enzymologist, a worldwide leader in studies of the mechanisms of enzymatic catalysis, with an emphasis on enzymes that are the targets of antibiotics. The Hamilton Kuhn Professor at Harvard University Medical School, he is also the author of major monographs in his field, including the classic "Enzymatic Reaction Mechanisms". Dr. Walsh's exceptionally wide-ranging oeuvre includes the dissection of enzymes that mediate the synthesis of antibiotics; the resistance to antibiotics; cell wall biosynthesis; detoxification of mercury-containing compounds; methanogenesis; and other processes. His work has also encompassed the design of mechanism-based inhibitors of medically important enzymes, the enzymatic synthesis of natural products such as antibiotic rifamycin and antitumor agent epothilone, and the understanding of the molecular basis of resistance to vancomycin, the antibiotic of last resort. In 2014 he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry from the Franklin Institute.

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