George Whitesides

George Whitesides, 2007

George McClelland Whitesides (born August 3, 1939 in Louisville , Kentucky ) is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at Harvard University . Whitesides became known for his work in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , organometallic chemistry , molecular self-organization and nanotechnology .

biography

Whitesides attended Phillips Andover Secondary School , which he graduated in 1957. He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1960 and his PhD in 1964 from the California Institute of Technology . Under the guidance of John D. Roberts , Whitesides focused on studying nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in organic chemistry . Among other things, he studied spin-spin coupling in a variety of organic substances and the structure of Grignard reagents in solution.

Whitesides began his career in 1963 as an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and remained there until 1982. He was adjunct professor 1969-1971, 1971-1975 professor, 1975-1980 Arthur C. Cope professor and 1980-1982 Haslam and Dewey Professor. While at MIT, he played a pivotal role in developing the Corey House-Posner-Whitesides reaction . In 1982 Whitesides went to Harvard University. He was chairman of the chemistry faculty (1986–1989), dean of the scientific faculty (1989–1992) and Mallinckrodt professor for chemistry (1986–2004).

Whitesides has held the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers Professorship at Harvard since 2004. His working group includes over 35 doctoral and post-doctoral students. According to the biography on his website, Whiteside's current research includes “ physical and organic chemistry , materials science , biophysics , complexity and emergence , surface science , microfluids , optics , self-organization , micro and nanotechnology , science for developing countries, catalysis , energy generation and storage , the Origin of life , the rational development of active ingredients, the cell surfaces - biochemistry , simplicity and infochemistry “a. The primary objective of his work is to "fundamentally change the thought patterns of science". In addition to his scientific research, Whitesides is also active politically and in various committees. He was active on the advisory committees for the National Science Foundation , NASA and the Department of Defense , among others . Whitesides is the author of more than 950 scientific articles and holds 50 patents. He is one of the most cited chemists. Whitesides is the co-founder of twelve companies with combined market capitalizations in excess of $ 20 billion, including Genzyme , GelTex, Theravance, Surface logix, Nano-Terra and WMR Biomedical. Whitesides has supervised more than 300 PhD and postdocs.

He is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals, including Angewandte Chemie . Whitesides has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science (1998), the Kyoto Prize in Materials Science and Engineering (2003), the Dan David Prize (2005) and the Welch Award in Chemistry (2005).

Whitesides is married to Barbara Breasted and has two children: George Thomas and Benjamin Haile.

Prices

• 1975 Award in Pure Chemistry (American Chemical Society)
• 1979 Harrison Howe Award (American Chemical Society, Rochester Section)
• 1980 Distinguished Alumni Award (California Institute of Technology)
• 1983 Remsen Award (American Chemical Society, Maryland Section)
• 1989 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (American Chemical Society)
• 1994 James Flack Norris Award (American Chemical Society, New England Section)
• 1995 Arthur C. Cope Award (American Chemical Society)
• 1996 Award for Significant Technical Achievement (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
• 1996 Madison Marshall Award (American Chemical Society)
• 1998 National Medal of Science (National Science Board)
• 1999 Distinguished Chemist Award (American Chemical Society, Sierra Nevada Section)
• 1999 Wallac Oy Innovation Award in High Throughput Screening (Society for Biomolecular Screening)
• 1999 Excellence Award in Surface Science (Surfaces in Biomaterials Foundation)
• 2000 Von Hippel Award ( Materials Research Society )
• 2001 World Technological Award for Materials (World Technological Network)
• 2001 Honorary doctorate from the University of Twente
• 2002 Researcher of the Year Award (Small Times Magazine)
• 2003 Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award (Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh)
• 2003 Kyoto Prize (Inamori Foundation)
• 2004 Paracelsus Prize ( Swiss Chemical Society )
• 2004 Ralph and Helen Oesper Award (Cincinnati Section of American Chemical Society)
• 2004 Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine (Jacob & Louise Gabbay Foundation)
• 2005 Dickson Prize in Science (Carnegie Mellon University)
• 2005 Dan David Prize (Dan David Foundation)
• 2005 Linus Pauling Medal (Portland, Puget Sound and Oregon Sections of American Chemical Society)
• 2005 Welch Award in Chemistry (The Welch Foundation)
• 2006 UAA Dhirumbhai Ambani Award (National Academy of Science, India)
• 2007 Priestley Medal (American Chemical Society)
• 2007 Scientist of the Year (R&D Magazine)
• 2007 American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal
• 2008 Wheland Medal (University of Chicago)
• 2008 Outstanding Achievement Award in Nanotechnology (Ohio State University)
• 2008 Nanoscience Prize (ISNS, Computation and Engineering)
• 2008 Prince of Asturias Prize (Spain)
• 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute)
• 2009 Dreyfus Prize in Chemical Sciences first recipient
• 2012 honorary doctorate from the Free University of Berlin
• 2013 IRI Medal

Memberships

• 2009 American Physical Society (Fellow)
• 2005 National Academy of Engineering
• 2000 Indian National Science Academy
• 1997 American Philosophical Society
• 2000 Chemical Research Society of India (honorary member)
• 1978 National Academy of Sciences
• 1975 American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• World Technological Network
• New York Academy of Sciences
• Academia Sinica
• Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences
• Material Research Society India (Honorary Member)
• Chemical Research Society of India (honorary member)
• Institute of Physics
• Royal Society of Chemistry

Fonts

• Self assembling materials. In: Scientific American . September 1995, PDF
• The once and future nanomachine. In: Scientific American. September 2001, PDF
• with J. Christopher Love The art of building small. In: Scientific American. September 2001, PDF
• Whitesides' Group: Writing a Paper . In: Advanced Materials . tape 16 , no. 15 , 2004, pp. 1375-1377 , doi : 10.1002 / adma.200400767 ( PDF ).

literature

• Who's Who in America. 2007, p. 4833, ISBN 0-8379-7006-7

Web links

Commons : George M. Whitesides  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Research interests ( Memento from January 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
• Entry on isiknowledge.com ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
• Biography on the homepage of the Whitesides working group

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Respected graduates of the Phillips Academy in Andover ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Biography on the homepage of the Whitesides working group ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ ISI's List of 1000 Most Quoted Chemists 1981–1997 ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.