Marion Frederick Hawthorne (August 24, 1928 – July 8, 2021)^[1] was aninorganic chemist who made contributions to the chemistry ofboron hydrides, especially theirclusters.

Hawthorne was born on August 24, 1928, inFort Scott,Kansas. He received his elementary and secondary education in Kansas and Missouri. Prior to high school graduation, he entered theMissouri School of Mines and Metallurgy,Rolla, Missouri through examination as a chemical engineering student. He then transferred toPomona College, where he received a B.A. degree in chemistry in 1949. While there he conducted research withCorwin Hansch. Hawthorne completed his Ph.D. inorganic chemistry underDonald J. Cram at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles in 1953. He conducted postdoctoral research atIowa State University withGeorge S. Hammond,^[2] before joining the Redstone Arsenal Research Division of theRohm and Haas Company inHuntsville,Alabama.

At the Redstone Arsenal, he worked on the chemistry of boron hydrides making several notable discoveries. In 1962, he moved to theUniversity of California, Riverside as professor of chemistry. He moved to theUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1969. In 1998, he was appointed University Professor of Chemistry at UCLA. He then returned to his home state of Missouri as head of the International Institute ofNano and Molecular Medicine atUniversity of Missouri.

Hawthorne was long associated with the journalInorganic Chemistry, and was its longest serving editor-in-chief.

Hawthorne's contributions focused on the chemistry ofboron hydride clusters. He discovereddodecaborate anion (B₁₂H₁₂²⁻)^[3] and metal complexes of thedicarbollide anion.^[4] His group subsequently discovered the perhydroxylation of B₁₂H₁₂²⁻.^[5]

Hawthorne has been widely recognized, including with election to the USNational Academy of Sciences.

• 1992 –Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences atUppsala University,Sweden^[6]
• 1994 –Chemical Pioneer Award from theAmerican Institute of Chemists^[7]
• 2009 –Priestley Medal from theAmerican Chemical Society^[8]
• 2011 –National Medal of Science^[9]

• Interview with Richard Eisenberg for the Voices of Inorganic Chemistry (2011)

• 1928 births
• 2021 deaths
• 21st-century American chemists
• University of California, Los Angeles alumni
• Pomona College alumni
• University of Missouri faculty
• University of California, Riverside faculty
• Missouri University of Science and Technology alumni
• Scientists from Columbia, Missouri
• Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• People from Fort Scott, Kansas
• Chemists from Missouri
• National Medal of Science laureates
• American inorganic chemists

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