John D. Roberts | |
|---|---|
 John D. Roberts in 2010 | |
| Born | John Dombrowski Roberts (1918-06-08)June 8, 1918 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | October 29, 2016(2016-10-29) (aged 98) Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | UCLA |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | Penn State UCLA Harvard MIT Caltech |
| Thesis | Studies of the nature of the butenyl Grignard reagent (1945) |
| Doctoral advisors | William Gould Young |
| Doctoral students | |
| Other notable students | Post-docs: Undergrad: MS student: |
John Dombrowski Roberts (June 8, 1918 – October 29, 2016) was an Americanchemist. He made contributions to the integration ofphysical chemistry,spectroscopy, andorganic chemistry for the understanding ofchemical reaction rates. Another characteristic of Roberts' work was the early use of NMR, focusing on the concept ofspin coupling.[1]
Roberts received both aB.A. (1941) andPh.D. (1944) from theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, working under ProfessorWilliam Gould Young.[2] He held several positions at theCalifornia Institute of Technology, including division chairman of chemistry and chemical engineering from 1963 to 1968,dean of thefaculty and provost from 1980 to 1983 and Institute Professor of chemistry,emeritus (1988–2016) in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.[3] He is credited with bringing the first female graduate student,Dorothy Semenow, to Caltech when he moved fromMIT.[4][5] He was a consultant forDuPont Central Research (1950–2008)[6] and for Oak Ridge.[3]
He published his autobiography in 1990,The Right Place at the Right Time.[7][8] Roberts died on October 29, 2016, at the age of 98 from a stroke.[9][10]
Roberts was elected a Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1952.[11] He was elected Member of theNational Academy of Sciences in 1956 at 38 years old.[12] He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1974.[13] In 1978, he was elected a Fellow ofThe Explorers Club. In 1984, Roberts received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement,[14] awarded thePriestley Medal in 1987,[15] theNational Medal of Science in 1990,[16] theGlenn T. Seaborg Medal in 1991,[17] theNAS Award in Chemical Sciences in 1999,[18] theNakanishi Prize in 2001,[19] theNAS Award for Chemistry in Service to Society in 2009,[20] theLinus Pauling Legacy Award in 2006[21] and theAmerican Institute of Chemists Gold Medal in 2013.[6]
Roberts received honorary degrees from theUniversity of Munich (1962),Temple University (1964) and theUniversity of Notre Dame.[3]
In 1998 he was named byChemical & Engineering News as one of the 75 most influential chemists of the last 75 years.[22]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Click on 'Papers of John D. Roberts Finding Aid (2013)' to go to full document.
