Roald Hoffmann

Roald Hoffmann

Roald Hoffmann
Born July 18, 1937 (1937-07-18)
Złoczów, Poland (now Ukraine)
Nationality Poland
Fields chemistry
Alma mater Columbia University
Harvard University
Doctoral advisor William N. Lipscomb, Jr.
Known for reaction mechanisms
Notable awards 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Roald Hoffmann (born July 18, 1937)[1] is an American theoretical chemist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He currently teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Contents

Early life

Escape from the Holocaust

Hoffmann was born in Złoczów (Poland, now Ukraine) to a Jewish family and was named in honor of the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen. He and his mother were among the only members of his immediate family to survive the Holocaust with the help from his Ukrainian neighbors, an experience which strongly influenced his beliefs and work. (A grandmother and several aunts, uncles, and cousins also survived.)[2] They immigrated to the United States in 1949. In 2009, a monument to Holocaust victims was built in Zolochiv on the initiative of Hoffmann.[3]

Academic credentials

Hoffmann graduated in 1955 from New York City's Stuyvesant High School,[4] where he won a Westinghouse science scholarship. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Columbia University (Columbia College) in 1958. He earned his Master of Arts degree in 1960 from Harvard University.

He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University while working [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] under direction of subsequent 1976 chemistry Nobel Prize winner William N. Lipscomb, Jr. Under Lipscomb's direction the Extended Huckel method was developed by Lawrence Lohr and by Roald Hoffmann [6][10]. This method was later extended by Hoffman.[11]

Chemistry interests

Hoffmann has investigated both organic and inorganic substances, developing computational tools and methods such as the extended Hückel method, which he proposed in 1963.

He also developed, with Robert Burns Woodward, rules for elucidating reaction mechanisms (the Woodward-Hoffmann rules). He also introduced the isolobal principle.

Artistic interests

Hoffmann is also a writer of poetry published in two collections, "The Metamict State" (1987, ISBN 0-8130-0869-7) and "Gaps and Verges" (1990, ISBN 0-8130-0943-X), and of books explaining chemistry to the general public. Also, he co-authored with Carl Djerassi a play called "Oxygen" about the discovery of oxygen, but also about what it means to be a scientist and the importance of process of discovery in science.

Hoffmann stars in the World of Chemistry video series with Don Showalter.

Since the spring of 2001, Hoffmann has been the host of a monthly series at New York City's Cornelia Street Cafe called "Entertaining Science," which explores the juncture between the arts and science.

Hoffmann and Brian Alan produced an English cover of Wei Wei's song “Dedication of Love“. Proceeds from this project were to be contributed to the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake. The nine artists involved in the project are BoA, Wei Wei, Phoebe, Rusiana Gaitana, Sonu, Ruth Sahanaya and three others from Paris, Brazil and Oman.[12]

Awards

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

In 1981, Hoffmann received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which he shared with Kenichi Fukui.[13]

Other awards

Hoffmann is member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science and is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists[1].

In August 2007, the American Chemical Society held a symposium at its biannual national meeting to honor Hoffmann's 70th birthday. He also has served as a consultant with Eli Lilly and Company, a global pharmaceutical corporation.

References

  1. ↑ Hoffmann's birth name was Roald Safran. Hoffmann is the surname adopted by his stepfather in the years after World War II
  2. ↑ The Tense Middle by Roald Hoffmann, story on NPR. Retrieved 29 September 2006.
  3. ↑ Holocaust monument dedicated in western Ukraine. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. July 20, 2009
  4. ↑ "Roald Hoffmann's land between chemistry, poetry and philosophy". http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/pn/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=11&page=1. Retrieved 2007-10-31. 
  5. ↑ Hoffmann R and Lipscomb WN, Theory of Polyhedral Molecules. III. Population Analyses and Reactivities for the Carboranes, J. Chem. Phys., 36, 3489 (1962).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hoffmann R and Lipscomb WN, Theory of Polyhedral Molecules. I. Physical Factorizations of the Secular Equation, J. Chem. Phys., 36, 2179 (1962).
  7. ↑ Hoffmann R and Lipscomb WN, The Boron Hydrides; LCAO-MO and Resonance Studies, J.Chem. Phys., 37, 2872 (1962).
  8. ↑ Hoffmann R and Lipscomb WN, Sequential Substitution Reactions on B10H10-2 and B12H12-2, J. Chem. Phys., 37, 520 (1962).
  9. ↑ Hoffmann R and Lipscomb WN, Intramolecular Isomerization and Transformations in Carboranes and Substituted Boron Hydrides, Inor. Chem., 2, 231 (1963).
  10. ↑ Lipscomb WN. Boron Hydrides, W. A. Benjamin Inc., New York, 1963, Chapter 3.
  11. ↑ Hoffmann R. An Extended Hückel Theory. I. Hydrocarbons. J. Chem. Phys, 39, 1397-1412 (1963).
  12. ↑ BoA sings for SICHUAN’S EARTHQUAKE ! « BoA’s Jewelry Box
  13. ↑ Cornell Chemistry Faculty Research

External links

Nobel Laureates in Chemistry

William Lipscomb (1976) · Ilya Prigogine (1977) · Peter D. Mitchell (1978) · Herbert C. Brown / Georg Wittig (1979) · Paul Berg / Walter Gilbert / Frederick Sanger (1980) · Kenichi Fukui / Roald Hoffmann (1981) · Aaron Klug (1982) · Henry Taube (1983) · Robert Merrifield (1984) · Herbert A. Hauptman / Jerome Karle (1985) · Dudley R. Herschbach / Yuan T. Lee / John Polanyi (1986) · Donald J. Cram / Jean-Marie Lehn / Charles J. Pedersen (1987) · Johann Deisenhofer / Robert Huber / Hartmut Michel (1988) · Sidney Altman / Thomas Cech (1989) · Elias Corey (1990) · Richard R. Ernst (1991) · Rudolph A. Marcus (1992) · Kary Mullis / Michael Smith (1993) · George Olah (1994) · Paul J. Crutzen / Mario J. Molina / Frank Rowland (1995) · Robert Curl / Harold Kroto / Richard Smalley (1996) · Paul D. Boyer / John E. Walker / Jens Christian Skou (1997) · Walter Kohn / John Pople (1998) · Ahmed Zewail (1999) · Alan J. Heeger / Alan MacDiarmid / Hideki Shirakawa (2000)
Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present
United States National Medal of Science laureates
 
Chemistry
1980s

1982: F. Albert Cotton · Gilbert Stork · 1983: Roald Hoffmann · George C. Pimentel · Richard N. Zare · 1986: Harry B. Gray · Yuan Tseh Lee · Carl S. Marvel · Frank H. Westheimer · 1987: William S. Johnson · Walter H. Stockmayer · Max Tishler · 1988: William O. Baker · Konrad E. Bloch · Elias J. Corey · 1989: Richard B. Bernstein · Melvin Calvin · Rudoph A. Marcus · Harden M. McConnell
1990s

1990: Elkan Blout · Karl Folkers · John D. Roberts · 1991: Ronald Breslow · Gertrude B. Elion · Dudley R. Herschbach · Glenn T. Seaborg · 1992: Howard E. Simmons, Jr. · 1993: Donald J. Cram · Norman Hackerman · 1994: George S. Hammond · 1995: Thomas Cech · Isabella L. Karle · 1996: Norman Davidson · 1997: Darleane C. Hoffman · Harold S. Johnston · 1998: John W. Cahn · George M. Whitesides · 1999: Stuart A. Rice · John Ross · Susan Solomon
2000s

2000: John D. Baldeschwieler · Ralph F. Hirschmann · 2001: Ernest R. Davidson · Gabor A. Somorjai · 2002: John I. Brauman · 2004: Stephen J. Lippard · 2006: Marvin H. Caruthers · Peter B. Dervan · 2007: Mostafa A. El-Sayed · 2008: Joanna S. Fowler · JoAnne Stubbe