Subdivision
| • | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | [X] |
| | 41 | Name: | Dr. James G. Anderson | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1998 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1944 | | | | | | |
James Anderson has pioneered the development and application of instruments to determine the chemical abundance of chemical radicals in the stratosphere. He established from measurement and theory the abundance of ClO in the stratosphere and then OH, NO, and BrO. This showed unambiguously that Cl from chloroflourocarbons was the cause of the ozone depletion in the Antarctic and that ClO and BrO from industrial sources was the cause of the ozone depletion. They are the basis for quantitatively testing models of the atmosphere. These results are from the very difficult and sophisticated measurements made by him with instrumented stratospheric ballon flights. Dr. Anderson has established a world center of research with brilliant young scientists who are participating in carrying their field forward. Having been Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at Harvard Univeristy since 1978, Dr. Anderson has also served on the faculties of the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1992); the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1985); and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1986). He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado (1970). | |
| 42 | 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. | |
| 43 | Name: | Dr. Joshua Jortner | | | Institution: | Tel Aviv University | | | Year Elected: | 1990 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1933 | | | | | | |
Joshua Jortner held the position of Heinemann Professor of Chemistry at Tel Aviv University from 1973-2003. He previously served as the Chair of the Chemistry Department, Deputy Rector, Acting Rector and Vice President of Tel-Aviv University (1965-72). He holds honorary doctorates from universities in Israel, France and Germany. Among his awards are the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1998) and the EMET Prize in Exact Sciences (2008). He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and a foreign member of 13 academies and learned societies in the USA, Europe and Asia. Dr. Jortner's scientific work in physical and theoretical chemistry, which focuses on the elucidation of the dynamics of energy acquisition, storage and disposal in complex systems from large molecules and clusters to biomolecules, is summarized in 725 scientific articles and 29 books. He contributed to shaping the scientific research and public service in Israel. He served as the President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (1986-95) and as the first Chairman of the Israel National Science Foundation (1986-95). He acted as science advisor to three Prime Ministers of Israel. On the international level Dr. Jortner served as the President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1998-2000). His current public service activities span issues of science and public policy and the maintenance of scientific enterprise. | |
| 44 | Name: | Dr. Martin D. Kamen | | | Institution: | University of California, San Diego | | | Year Elected: | 1974 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1913 | | | Death Date: | August 31, 2002 | | | | |
| 45 | Name: | Dr. Jerome Karle | | | Institution: | Naval Research Laboratory | | | Year Elected: | 1990 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1918 | | | Death Date: | June 6, 2013 | | | | | | |
Jerome Karle was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 18, 1918. He attended New York City schools and graduated from the City College of New York in 1937. He obtained an M.A. degree in biology in 1938 at Harvard University. After working at the New York State Health Department, he attended the University of Michigan and received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry. Jerome Karle's research was concerned with diffraction theory and its application to the determination of atomic arrangements in various states of aggregation, gaseous, liquids, amorphous solids and fibers. This research resulted in new techniques for structure determination and a broad variety of applications. His work in crystal structure analysis was recognized by the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Karle had been associated in various ways with a number of groups and organizations that are concerned with social issues. Some examples have been membership in the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academy of Sciences and Advisor to ChildRight Worldwide. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1990. Jerome Karle died on June 6, 2013, at the age of 94 in Annandale, Virginia. | |
| 46 | Name: | Dr. Isabella L. Karle | | | Institution: | Naval Research Laboratory | | | Year Elected: | 1992 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1921 | | | Death Date: | October 3, 2017 | | | | | | |
Isabella Karle (née Lugoski) was born in Detroit, Michigan. She was the daughter of Zygmunt and Elizabeth Lugoski who had emigrated from Poland. After attending the public schools in Detroit, she was awarded a scholarship to the University of Michigan where she earned the B.S. Chem, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees with a speciality in physical chemistry. After serving as a chemist on the atomic bomb project at the University of Chicago (1944), she was an Instructor in Chemistry at the University of Michigan. After World War II, she joined the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington where she maintained an active research program as a member of the Laboratory for the Structure of Matter until July 2010. Dr. Isabella Karle's early research concerned the structure analysis of molecules in the vapor state by electron diffraction. She was instrumental in the development of a quantitative procedure by which vibrational motion as well as bond lengths and bond angles in molecules can be determined accurately. In the fifties, her research was directed toward crystal structure analysis. She developed practical procedures based on the theoretical work developed in the Laboratory for the Structure of Matter at NRL for the determination of phases directly from the measured intensities of x-ray reflections. These practical procedures have become adopted world-wide and have been essential to the explosive output of crystal structure determinations that are indispensable to the solution of problems in a number of scientific disciplines: chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, mineralogy, material science, pharmaceuticals, drug design and medicinal chemistry, for example. There are now in excess of 20,000 published analyses per year, as compared to about 150 per year in the early 1960s. Isabella Karle personally had applied the direct method of phase determination to the early elucidation of molecular formulae and determination of conformations of steroids, alkaloids, frog toxins, photorearrangement products caused by radiation, nanotubes and particularly peptides. This type of structural information has provided the basis for computational chemistry, conformational analyses and the prediction of folding for new substances. She published more than 350 papers. The work of Dr. Karle was recognized by a number of awards and honors. Among them have been election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. She received the Garvan Award of the American Chemical Society, the Hillebrand Award, the WISE Lifetime Achievement Award, the Gregori Aminoff Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Bijvoet Medal from the Netherlands, Robert Dexter Conrad Award (ONR), the Department of Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award, and eight honorary doctorate degrees, the most recent from the Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland). Her first award, however, was presented by the Society of Women Engineers. She had served as President of the American Crystallographic Association, on several editorial boards of journals and a number of national committees concerned with various aspects of chemistry and crystallography. In 1993, Dr. Karle was awarded the prestigious Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science (Franklin Institute), and in 1995 she received the National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences and the National Medal of Science from President Clinton. Other recognitions include her biography in "Women in Chemistry and Physics" and in "The Door in the Dream," a symposium in her honor at an American Chemical Society meeting, and honors at the New York Academy of Sciences. She received the 2007 Bruce Merrifield Award for Peptide Science. Isabella Karle died on October 2, 2017 at the age of 95. | |
| 47 | Name: | Dr. Laura L. Kiessling | | | Institution: | University of Wisconsin-Madison; Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2017 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1960 | | | | | | |
Laura Lee Kiessling has made significant contributions to define intercelluar communication in bacteria and eukaryotes. Her work has led in the elucidation of carbohydrate biochemistry where she shed light on the importance of carbohydrate-cell surface interactions and on the mechanisms of cellular synthesis of complex carbohydrates. Kiessling was an early pioneer in the application of ring-opening polymerization for the preparation of polymer-glycoside conjugates with precisely defined spacing and length. Her research group provided major insight into the mechanisms by which carbohydrate molecular recognition events control cellular signaling. Her main interest currently is in finding a human lectin that recognizes microbial glycans over human glycans. Kiessling has been a leader in the application of chemical synthesis to dissect important biological questions involving multivalent carbohydrate displays. | |
| 48 | Name: | Dr. Jeremy R. Knowles | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1988 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1935 | | | Death Date: | April 3, 2008 | | | | |
| 49 | Name: | Dr. Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn | | | Institution: | Collège de France | | | Year Elected: | 1987 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1939 | | | | | | |
Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn is professor of chemistry at the Université de Strasbourg, France, where he is director of the Laboratory of Supramolecular Chemistry, ISIS (Institut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires), and professor emeritus at the Collège de France in Paris, where he directed the Laboratory of the Chemistry of Molecular Interactions. His undergraduate studies were conducted at the University of Strasbourg, and he received his doctorate there in 1963. After a year of postdoctoral research at Harvard University, he returned to the University of Strasbourg, becoming professor of chemistry at the Louis Pasteur University in 1970. In 1979, he also became a faculty member at the Collège de France. His work, for which he received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1987, has defined the field of supramolecular chemistry. Ostensibly trained as an organic chemist, he has done highly innovative work in theoretical chemistry with ab initio calculations; in physical chemistry with the use of nuclear magnetic resonance to study dynamic processes in solution; in inorganic chemistry through studies of inorganic complexes, electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide and inorganic photochemistry directed toward energy storage by the photochemical generation of hydrogen from the dissociation of water; in organic chemistry through the synthesis of terpenoids and a variety of new agents for complexing of ions of many kinds in water; and in biochemical research on the design of receptor molecules, transport across membranes and enzymatic reaction mechanisms. | |
| 50 | Name: | Dr. Samuel Lenher | | | Institution: | DuPont | | | Year Elected: | 1964 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1905 | | | Death Date: | 12/17/92 | | | | |
| 51 | Name: | Dr. Nelson J. Leonard | | | Institution: | University of Illinois & California Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 1996 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1916 | | | Death Date: | October 9, 2006 | | | | |
| 52 | Name: | Dr. Raphael David Levine | | | Institution: | Hebrew University | | | Year Elected: | 1996 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1938 | | | | | | |
Raphael Levine is Max Born Professor of Natural Philosophy at Hebrew University. He describes his work like so: "A central concern of Chemistry is the transformation of matter to create new materials. We call such transmutations 'chemical reactions'. I try to understand what makes chemical reactions go. I also seek to view them on the most highly resolved level, that of the actual molecules undergoing the change. As the starting materials evolve into the products, how do the atoms move, what energetic constraints operate and are there any steric requirements. I am a theorist but I do attempt to find out what are the concerns of my experimental colleagues. Currently the systems we study are larger than before and we are able to explore further away from equilibrium. One line of such activity is chemistry under extreme conditions. We are also able to take into account inherently quantum mechanical features such as when processes occur simultaneously on several electronic states (so called, the breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation)." His most recent book, Molecular Reaction Dynamics (2005) provides more details. Dr. Levine's research methods include molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanical methods. Often he seeks a more compact description. For this, methodologies based on information theory and on algebraic quantum mechanics are useful. In particular, they provide methods of data reduction (e.g., surprisal analysis) which can also be used in a predictive model. He prefers models that emphasize key aspects of the problem and allow for a simple conceptual picture of the dynamics as much as exact numerical simulations. He also indulges in examining more abstract issues. | |
| 53 | Name: | Lord Jack Lewis | | | Institution: | Robinson College, Cambridge & University of Cambridge | | | Year Elected: | 1994 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1928 | | | Death Date: | July 17, 2014 | | | | | | |
Sir Jack Lewis, Lord Lewis of Newnham, FRS was a British chemist working mainly in the area of the transition elements. He was a pioneer in the study of metallorganic compounds, especially in their magnetic properties, and has been a leader in synthesizing and characterizing compounds containing clusters of metal atoms. Sir Jack earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of London and a Ph.D. in 1954 from the University of Nottingham. In 1954 he was appointed lecturer at the University of Sheffield. He returned to London in 1956 as a lecturer at Imperial College London. From 1961-67 he served as professor of chemistry at the University of Manchester, eventually moving to University College London (1967-70) and the University of Cambridge (1970-95). He was also the first Warden of Robinson College from its foundation until 2001. Knighted in 1982, he won the Royal Society's Davy Medal in 1985 and was created Baron Lewis of Newnham, of Newnham in the County of Cambridgeshire, in 1989. In 2004 he received the Royal Society's Royal Medal. He was a member of the House of Lords, where he sat as a cross bencher and was a member of a number of Select Committees on Science and Technology. He died July 17, 2014, in Cambridge, at the age of 86. | |
| 54 | Name: | Dr. Stephen J. Lippard | | | Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2016 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1940 | | | | | | |
Stephen J. Lippard is the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and studied at Haverford College (B.A. in Chemistry) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry). After a postdoctoral year at MIT during 1965-66, he joined the faculty of Columbia University where he served until moving to MIT in 1983. His research activities span the fields of inorganic chemistry, biological chemistry, and neurochemistry. Included are studies to understand and improve platinum anticancer drugs, the synthesis of dimetallic complexes as models for non-heme iron metalloenzymes, structural and mechanistic investigations of methane monooxygenase and related bacterial multicomponent monooxygenases, and inorganic neurotransmitters, especially nitric oxide and zinc. He has published 900 papers on these and other topics and has co-authored a popular textbook with Jeremy Berg entitled "Principles of Bioinorganic Chemistry." He supervised the Ph. D. thesis research of 115 graduate students and more than that number of postdoctoral associates, many of whom hold significant positions in academic, industrial, or government institutions or in the medical or legal professions. His honors include the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry, National Medal of Science, the Priestley Medal (highest award bestowed by the American Chemical Society), the Centenary Medal awarded by the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK, the Pauling Medal, the James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award from MIT, awarded to one member of the faculty each year, the F.A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research, Luigi Sacconi Medal from the Italian Chemical Society, co-recipient of the first Christopher J. Fredrickson Prize for Research in the Neurobiology of Zinc, ACS Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry, and election to the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Irish Academy, Italian Chemical Society, and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He holds several honorary degrees. His research on platinum complexes led to the co-founding of Blend Therapeutics in 2011. Based in Watertown, Massachusetts, Blend (now Placon Therapeutics) has recently had an IND approved by the FDA to take a new platinum compound into a Phase I clinical trial for cancer treatment. | |
| 55 | Name: | Dr. Per-Olov Löwdin | | | Institution: | University of Florida & Uppsala University | | | Year Elected: | 1983 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1916 | | | Death Date: | October 22, 2000 | | | | |
| 56 | Name: | Dr. Rudolph Arthur Marcus | | | Institution: | California Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 1990 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1923 | | | | | | |
One of the outstanding theoretical chemists of our time, Rudolph A. Marcus is Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, where he has taught since 1978. He earned his Ph.D. from McGill University in 1946 and later served on the faculties of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (1951-64) and the University of Illinois (1964-78). He has a record of superb contributions to many fields of chemistry, especially in unimolecular and electron-transfer reactions, semiclassical theory of collisions and of bound states, intramolecular dynamics, solvent dynamics, and chemical reaction coordinates. His Marcus Equation has proven to be a general and powerful treatment of reaction rates. Dr. Marcus is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1970) and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1973). His many awards include the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1992), the Wolf Prize (1985) and the National Medal of Science (1989). | |
| 57 | Name: | Dr. Tobin Jay Marks | | | Institution: | Northwestern University | | | Year Elected: | 2022 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1944 | | | | | | |
Tobin Jay Marks is the Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Catalytic Chemistry, Professor of Material Science and Engineering, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Professor of Applied Physics at Northwestern University. He earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971. He has spent most of his career at Northwestern, beginning as an Assistant Professor, then full Professor, and later, the Charles E. & Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry.
For five decades, Marks has been on the cutting edge of chemistry. Among his most ambitious work is the development of new organic photonics and olefin-polymerization techniques that opened the door to environmentally-friendly plastics. Marks has been "a true giant in the field" Stanford University chemistry professor Richard Zare told Chemical & Engineering News in 2016 when Marks was announced as the recipient of the Priestley Medal from the American Chemical Society. Among Marks' many achievements are the creation of flexible electronic materials for use in solar cells and light-emitting diodes and developing classes of oxide thin films for use in energy efficient materials. The wide scope of his research has resulted in more than a thousand published papers and more than 230 patents. He has also mentored hundreds of students over his career.
Marks' major recognitions include the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Spanish Principe de Asturias Prize, the Materials Research Society Von Hippel Award, the Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences, and the Israel Harvey Prize. He is a member of the U.S., European, German, Indian, and Italian Academies of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the U.S. National Academy of Inventors. He is a Fellow of the U.K. Royal Society of Chemistry, the Materials Research Society, and the American Chemical Society. Marks was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2022. | |
| 58 | Name: | Dr. Jerrold Meinwald | | | Institution: | Cornell University | | | Year Elected: | 1987 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1927 | | | Death Date: | April 24, 2018 | | | | | | |
Jerrold Meinwald, Goldwin Smith Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Cornell University, died April 24, 2018, at the age of 91. He was educated at the University of Chicago (Ph.B. 1947, B.S. 1948) and at Harvard (M.A. 1950, Ph.D. 1952), where he worked with R.B. Woodward. He was a member of the group of scientists who founded the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, and served as an ICIPE Research Director from 1970-77. He is a founding member of CIRCE (the Cornell Institute for Research in Chemical Ecology).
Dr. Meinwald's research covered a very broad range of topics, including molecular rearrangement mechanisms, the synthesis and reactions of highly strained ring systems, organic photochemistry, natural product structure and synthesis, anesthetic stereochemistry, and insect chemical ecology. We typically think of communication as a fairly straightforward phenomenon involving speech, gestures, and more recently, electronic devices. But the majority of creatures interact through different means: a dazzling array of chemical signals. This is how insects talk to each other, find food, mate, bind together in communities, even make war. But it's not only bugs that communicate through chemicals—all living organisms, from microorganisms to human beings, do the same. The study of how organisms communicate and interact with their environment is a specialized field called chemical ecology, bridging organic chemistry and biology. Jerrold Meinwald is universally recognized as its founding father, along with Tom Eisner (1929-2011), his longtime biological collaborator. In a career spanning more than half a century, Meinwald defined chemical ecology as a new science, showing how it can help us better understand the behavior of living creatures and leading to important advances in medicine, pharmacology, and agriculture.
Born in New York, Meinwald attended the University of Chicago and obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard, then settled in for a fellowship at Cornell University, where he has spent his entire career. At first, he was known as a creative organic chemist, studying highly strained small molecules, photochemistry, and analytic spectroscopic techniques. He then became intrigued by the chemical defenses of arthropods. Among his early discoveries were lipophilic compounds secreted by some insects that help toxins permeate an attacker's protective cuticle, and the fact that fireflies and some other insects secrete steroids that make them unattractive meals for predators. He investigated the underlying chemical mechanisms that enabled organisms to synthesize these defensive agents, leading to the realization that one species, perhaps a plant, can make a precursor substance later used by another organism, such as an insect—a relationship between two species manifested at a chemical level.
This work led to the forging of a unique collaboration with Eisner, who had been studying many of the same questions from a biological perspective and arrived at Cornell shortly after Meinwald had joined the faculty. They combined forces to elevate the study of chemical signaling into the new discipline of chemical ecology, with Meinwald probing the chemistry and Eisner investigating the biology. They studied and characterized an extensive variety of chemical signaling and defense mechanisms in insects, plants, birds, fish, and mammals. The interactions they explained, from snakes that derive protective steroids for their eggs and hatchlings from toads they consume, to moths that convert a certain alkaloid to attract females which is later passed on as a defensive chemical to their eggs, to fish that secrete substances literally giving them a bad taste to predators, demonstrate the amazing range of remarkable evolutionary adaptations on Earth. The Meinwald/Eisner partnership opened up brand new vistas in chemistry and biology that are only beginning to be fully explored.
But the work has done even more than give science a deeper insight into the beautiful interconnected web of life on our planet. Meinwald's work in isolating, characterizing, and synthesizing the structure of various compounds used in nature points the way for the development of substances for practical applications: drugs, agricultural chemicals, and other yet unimagined uses. He continues to demonstrate that the natural chemicals that living creatures use to communicate, survive, and thrive have potential and promise waiting to be tapped.
He had been a Visiting Professor at the Harvard Medical School, the Rockefeller University, and the University of California, San Diego. He was an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (1969), the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1970) and the American Philosophical Society (1987), and held two J.S. Guggenheim Fellowships (1960-61, 1976-77). He served as a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (1983) and as a Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence at the NIH (1983-85). He was elected President of the International Society of Chemical Ecology in 1988. In 1989, he was awarded an honorary Ph.D. by the University of Göteborg. Dr. Meinwald served as a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (1990-91). He was awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1990 and the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest in 1991. He served three terms as a National Sigma Xi Lecturer (1965, 1975, 1992-94). The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic awarded him the Heyrovsky Medal in 1996. He was a Senior Visiting Scholar at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2004) and was selected for the 2005 Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry by the American Chemical Society. He was awarded the 2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry by the Franklin Institute and won the 2014 National Medal of Science.
Music was Dr. Meinwald's chief recreational activity. He studied flute with Arthur Lora, James Pappoutsakis and Marcel Moyse and frequently combines chamber music performances on flute, recorder, or flauto traverso with visiting lectureships. | |
| 59 | Name: | Dr. Mario J. Molina | | | Institution: | University of California, San Diego | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1943 | | | Death Date: | October 7, 2020 | | | | | | |
Mario Molina Autobiography From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 1995, Editor Tore Frängsmyr, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1996. Updated in 2005. I was born in Mexico City on March 19, 1943; my parents were Roberto Molina Pasquel and Leonor Henríquez de Molina. My father was a lawyer; he had a private practice, but he also taught at the National University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) ). In his later years, after I had left Mexico, he served as Mexican Ambassador to Ethiopia, Australia and the Philippines. I attended elementary school and high school in Mexico City. I was already fascinated by science before entering high school; I still remember my excitement when I first glanced at paramecia and amoebae through a rather primitive toy microscope. I then converted a bathroom, seldom used by the family, into a laboratory and spent hours playing with chemistry sets. With the help of an aunt, Esther Molina, who was a chemist, I continued with more challenging experiments along the lines of those carried out by freshman chemistry students in college. Keeping with our family tradition of sending their children abroad for a couple of years, and aware of my interest in chemistry, I was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland when I was 11 years old, on the assumption that German was an important language for a prospective chemist to learn. I remember I was thrilled to go to Europe, but then I was disappointed in that my European schoolmates had no more interest in science than my Mexican friends. I had already decided at that time to become a research chemist; earlier, I had seriously contemplated the possibility of pursuing a career in music - I used to play the violin in those days. In 1960, I enrolled in the chemical engineering program at UNAM, as this was then the closest way to become a physical chemist, taking math-oriented courses not available to chemistry majors. After finishing my undergraduate studies in Mexico, I decided to obtain a Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry. This was not an easy task; although my training in chemical engineering was good, it was weak in mathematics, physics, as well as in various areas of basic physical chemistry - subjects such as quantum mechanics were totally alien to me in those days. At first I went to Germany and enrolled at the University of Freiburg. After spending nearly two years doing research in kinetics of polymerizations, I realized that I wanted to have time to study various basic subjects in order to broaden my background and to explore other research areas. Thus, I decided to seek admission to a graduate program in the United States. While pondering my future plans, I spent several months in Paris, where I was able to study mathematics on my own and I also had a wonderful time discussing all sorts of topics, ranging from politics, philosophy, to the arts, etc., with many good friends. Subsequently, I returned to Mexico as an Assistant Professor at the UNAM and I set up the first graduate program in chemical engineering. Finally, in 1968 I left for the University of California at Berkeley to pursue my graduate studies in physical chemistry. During my first year at Berkeley, I took courses in physics and mathematics, in addition to the required courses in physical chemistry. I then joined the research group of Professor George C. Pimentel, with the goal of studying molecular dynamics using chemical lasers, which were discovered in his group a few years earlier. George Pimentel was also a pioneer in the development of matrix isolation techniques, which is widely used in the study of the molecular structure and bonding of transient species. He was an excellent teacher and a wonderful mentor; his warmth, enthusiasm, and encouragement provided me with inspiration to pursue important scientific questions. My graduate work involved the investigation of the distribution of internal energy in the products of chemical and photochemical reactions; chemical lasers were well suited as tools for such studies. At the beginning I had little experience with the experimental techniques required for my research, such as handling vacuum lines, infrared optics, electronic instrumentation, etc. I learned much of this from my colleague and friend Francisco Tablas, who was a postdoctoral fellow at that time. Eventually I became confident enough to generate original results on my own: my earliest achievement consisted of explaining some features in the laser signals - that at first sight appeared to be noise - as "relaxation oscillations," predictable from the fundamental equations of laser emission. My years at Berkeley have been some of the best of my life. I arrived there just after the era of the free-speech movement. I had the opportunity to explore many areas and to engage in exciting scientific research in an intellectually stimulating environment. It was also during this time that I had my first experience dealing with the impact of science and technology on society. I remember that I was dismayed by the fact that high-power chemical lasers were being developed elsewhere as weapons; I wanted to be involved with research that was useful to society, but not for potentially harmful purposes. After completing my Ph.D. degree in 1972, I stayed for another year at Berkeley to continue research on chemical dynamics. Then, in the fall of 1973, I joined the group of Professor F. Sherwood (Sherry) Rowland as a postdoctoral fellow, moving to Irvine, California. Sherry had pioneered research on "hot atom" chemistry, investigating chemical properties of atoms with excess translational energy and produced by radioactive processes. Sherry offered me a list of research options: the one project that intrigued me the most consisted of finding out the environmental fate of certain very inert industrial chemicals - the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - which had been accumulating in the atmosphere and which at that time were thought to have no significant effects on the environment. This project offered me the opportunity to learn a new field --atmospheric chemistry-- about which I knew very little; trying to solve a challenging problem appeared to be an excellent way to plunge into a new research area. The CFCs are compounds similar to others that Sherry and I had investigated from the point of view of molecular dynamics; we were familiar with their chemical properties, but not with their atmospheric chemistry. Three months after I arrived at Irvine, Sherry and I developed the "CFC-ozone depletion theory." At first the research did not seem to be particularly interesting - I carried out a systematic search for processes that might destroy the CFCs in the lower atmosphere, but nothing appeared to affect them. We knew, however, that they would eventually drift to sufficiently high altitudes to be destroyed by solar radiation. The question was not only what destroys them, but more importantly, what the consequences are. We realized that the chlorine atoms produced by the decomposition of the CFCs would catalytically destroy ozone. We became fully aware of the seriousness of the problem when we compared the industrial amounts of CFCs to the amounts of nitrogen oxides which control ozone levels; the role of these catalysts of natural origin had been established a few years earlier by Paul Crutzen. We were alarmed at the possibility that the continued release of CFCs into the atmosphere would cause a significant depletion of the Earth's stratospheric ozone layer. Sherry and I decided to exchange information with the atmospheric sciences community: we went to Berkeley to confer with Professor Harold Johnston, whose work on the impact of the release of nitrogen oxides from the proposed supersonic transport (SST) aircraft on the stratospheric ozone layer was well known to us. Johnston informed us that months earlier Ralph Cicerone and Richard Stolarski had arrived at similar conclusions concerning the catalytic properties of chlorine atoms in the stratosphere, in connection with the release of hydrogen chloride either from volcanic eruptions or from the ammonium perchlorate fuel planned for the space shuttle. We published our findings in Nature, in a paper which appeared in the June 28, 1974 issue. The years following the publication of our paper were hectic, as we had decided to communicate the CFC - ozone issue not only to other scientists, but also to policy makers and to the news media; we realized this was the only way to insure that society would take some measures to alleviate the problem. To me, Sherry Rowland has always been a wonderful mentor and colleague. I cherish my years of association with him and my friendship with him and his wife, Joan. While he was on sabbatical leave in Vienna during the first six months of 1974, we communicated via mail and telephone. There were many exchanges of mail during this short period of time, which illustrated the frantic pace of our research at that time while we continued to refine our ozone depletion theory. Soon after, Sherry and I published several more articles on the CFC-ozone issue; we presented our results at scientific meetings and we also testified at legislative hearings on potential controls on CFCs emissions. In 1975, I was appointed as a member of the faculty at the University of California, Irvine. Although I continued to collaborate with Sherry, as an assistant professor I had to prove that I was capable of conducting original research on my own. I thus set up an independent program to investigate chemical and spectroscopic properties of compounds of atmospheric importance, focusing on those that are unstable and difficult to handle in the laboratory, such as hypochlorous acid, chlorine nitrite, chlorine nitrate, peroxynitric acid, etc. Although my years at Irvine were very productive, I missed not doing experiments myself because of the many responsibilities associated with a faculty position: teaching courses, supervising graduate students, meetings, etc. After spending seven years at Irvine as Assistant and then Associate Professor, I decided to move to a non-academic position. I joined the Molecular Physics and Chemistry Section at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1982. I had a smaller group - only a few postdoctoral fellows - but I also had the luxury of conducting experiments with my own hands, which I enjoyed very much. Indeed, I spent many hours in the laboratory in those years, conducting measurements and developing techniques for the study of newly emerging problems. Around 1985, after becoming aware of the discovery by Joseph Farman and his co-workers of the seasonal depletion of ozone over Antarctica, my research group at JPL investigated the peculiar chemistry which is promoted by polar stratospheric clouds, some of which consist of ice crystals. We were able to show that chlorine-activation reactions take place very efficiently in the presence of ice under polar stratospheric conditions; thus, we provided a laboratory simulation of the chemical effects of clouds over the Antarctic. Also, in order to understand the rapid catalytic gas phase reactions that were taking place over the South Pole, experiments were carried out in my group with chlorine peroxide, a new compound which had not been reported previously in the literature and which turned out to be important in providing the explanation for the rapid loss of ozone in the polar stratosphere. In 1989 I returned to academic life, moving to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I have continued with research on global atmospheric chemistry issues. Although I no longer spend much time in the laboratory, I very much enjoy working with my graduate and postdoctoral students, who provide me with invaluable intellectual stimulus. I have also benefited from teaching; as I try to explain my views to students with critical and open minds, I find myself continually being challenged to go back and rethink ideas. I now see teaching and research as complementary, mutually reinforcing activities. When I first chose the project to investigate the fate of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere, it was simply out of scientific curiosity. I did not consider at that time the environmental consequences of what Sherry and I had set out to study. I am heartened and humbled that I was able to do something that not only contributed to our understanding of atmospheric chemistry, but also had a profound impact on the global environment. One of the very rewarding aspects of my work has been the interaction with a superb group of colleagues and friends in the atmospheric sciences community. I truly value these friendships, many of which go back 20 years or more, and which I expect to continue for many more years to come. I feel that this Nobel Prize represents recognition for the excellent work that has been done by my colleagues and friends in the atmospheric chemistry community on the stratospheric ozone depletion issue.
Mario Molina was awarded the 2013 Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. | |
| 60 | Name: | Dr. Kyriacos C. Nicolaou | | | Institution: | Rice University | | | Year Elected: | 2011 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1946 | | | | | | |
K.C. Nicolaou was born in 1946 in Cyprus, where he grew up and went to school until the age of 18. In 1964, he emigrated to England where he spent two years learning English and preparing to enter the university. His advanced studies in chemistry were carried out at the University of London (B.Sc., 1969, Bedford College, First Class Honors; Ph.D. 1972, University College). In 1972, he crossed the Atlantic to the United States and completed postdoctoral appointments at Columbia University (1972-1973) and Harvard University (1973-1976) after which he joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, where he rose through the ranks to become the Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry. In 1989, he accepted joint appointments at the University of California, San Diego, where he was Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and The Scripps Research Institute, where he was the Chairman of the Department of Chemistry and the Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry and the Aline. W. and L. Skaggs Professorship in Chemical Biology. In July 2013 he moved to Rice University where he is Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and the BioScience Research Collaborative.
One of the world’s leading synthetic organic chemists, Dr. Nicolaou is considered a master of the art of total synthesis. His accomplishments include the synthesis of some of the most complex molecules of nature such as amphotericin B, calicheamicin, Taxol®, brevetoxins A and B, vancomycin, and thiostrepton. In addition to his scientific accomplishments, Dr. Nicolaou is well known for his educational reviews and books. Among his books, the most well-known are the Classics in Total Synthesis series (I, II, III, co-authored with his students Erik Sorensen, Scott Snyder and Jason Chen, respectively) and Molecules That Changed the World (co-authored with his research associate Tamsyn Montagnon). The latter is a delightful and informative coffee table book illustrating the impact of chemistry on society with colorful images and easy to understand language that serves to inspire the youth into the sciences and inform the public about the importance and virtues of science.
For his scientific work, Professor Nicolaou has received numerous awards and honors, including the Humboldt Foundation US Senior Scientist Prize (Germany, 1987), the William H. Nichols Medal, New York Section-American Chemical Society (1996), the Linus Pauling Medal, Oregon, Portland, Puget Sound Sections-American Chemical Society (1996), the Decoration of the Order of the Commander of Honor Medal (bestowed by the President of Greece, 1998), the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest, Northeaster Section-American Chemical Society (1998), the Aristeio Bodossaki Prize (Greece, 2004), the A. C. Cope Award, American Chemical Society (2005), the August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann-Denkmünze Award (Germany, 2008), the Chandler Medal, Columbia University (2008), the Science Award, Ministry of Education and Culture, Cyprus (2010), the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry (2011), and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2016).
Nicolaou is a Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), Foreign Member of the Academy of Athens (Greece), Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Member of the Royal Society, and holds 12 honorary degrees from universities around the world. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2011. | |
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