Robert H. Grubbs

Robert H. Grubbs is currently the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, where he has been a faculty member since 1978. Before moving to Caltech, Bob was at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan from 1969 to 1978, where he achieved the rank of Associate Professor.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2005, Bob was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (with R. R. Schrock and Y. Chauvin) for his contribution to metathesis reactions. In metathesis reactions, double bonds are broken and made between carbon atoms to create different chemical structure. Professor Grubbs (and fellow Nobel laureates) contribution to the catalysts that facilitate these reactions rendered chemistry more efficient, less environmentally and energetically demanding and thereby enabled it to become one of the most important reactions in organic chemistry with the associated cascade into a wide variety of industrial applications from pharmaceuticals and polymer materials to fuels from biological feedstocks.

Education:

• B.S. Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (1963)
• M.S. Chemistry, with Prof. Merle Battiste, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (1965)
• Ph.D. Chemistry, with Prof. Ronald Breslow, Columbia University, New York, New York (1968)
• NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemistry, with Prof. James P. Collman, Stanford University (1968-1969)

Fellowships and awards:

• National Institutes of Health Trainee (1966-1968)
• National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow (1968-1969)
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1974-1976)
• The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1975-1978)
• Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (1975)
• ACS National Award in Organometallic Chemistry (1988)
• National Academy of Sciences (1989)
• Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (ACS Division of Organic Chemistry) (1990)
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1994)
• ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry (Mobil Chemical Company) (1995)
• The Nagoya Medal of Organic Chemistry (1997)
• Fluka Prize – Reagent of the Year 1998 (1998)
• Honorary Membership to the Royal Irish Academy in the Section of Science (1999)
• Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry (The Franklin Institute) (2000)
• ACS Herman F. Mark Polymer Chemistry Award (Dow Chemical Co. Foundation) (2000)
• ACS Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods (Aldrich Chemical Co. & the Purdue Borane Research Fund) (2001)
• Honorary Professor of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2001)
• Arthur C. Cope Award (ACS Division of Organic Chemistry) (2002)
• ACS Award for Creative Research in Homogenous or Heterogeneous Catalysis (Shell Oil Foundation) (2003)
• The Richard C. Tolman Medal (Southern California Section of ACS) (2003)
• Pauling Award Medal (Oregon, Portland, Puget Sound Sections of ACS) (2003)
• Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry (2003)
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Distinguished Achievement Award in Organic Synthesis (2004)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) (2004)
• The Kirkwood Medal (New Haven Section of ACS) (2005)
• Paul Karrer Gold Medallion, Kuratorium der Stiftung für die Paul Karrer-Vorlesung, University of Zurich (2005)
• August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann-Denkmünze, German Chemical Society (2005)
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2005, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2005)
• Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2006)
• Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels (2006)
• Presentation of Scroll from Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, City of Los Angeles (2006)
• Honorary Degree, Michigan State University (2006)
• Havinga Medal 2006, Leiden University, The Netherlands (2006)
• Golden Plate Award, Academy of Achievement (2006)
• Tetrahedron Most Cited Paper 2003-2006 Award (“Olefin Metathesis”) (2006)
• Honorary Degree, University of Florida at Gainesville (2006)
• University of Canterbury’s 2nd Canterbury Distinguished Professor (2007)
• Distinguished Fellow, Ewha Academy for Advanced Studies, Ewha Women’s University (2007)
• Honorary Degree, Dickinson College. Carlisle, PA (2007)
• UCD Ulysses Medal, University College Dublin, Ireland (2007)
• Honorary Degree, University of Crete, Greece (2007)
• Honorary Degree, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (2007)
• Honorary Degree, The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK (2008)
• Canterbury Distinguished Professor, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (2008)
• Shri. Dhirubhai Ambani Innovation Award 2007, UICT Alumni Association, India (2008)
• Tetrahedron Letters Most Cited Paper 2005-2008 Award (“A Neutral, Water-Soluble Olefin Metathesis Catalyst Based on an N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligand”) (2008)
• ACS Award for Creative Invention (2009)
• Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2009)
• Honorary Degree, Poznan Adam Mickiewicz University (2009)
• Admitted to Polish Academy of Sciences (2009)
• ACS Polymer Division Fellow (Founding POLY Fellow) (2010)
• Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists, Chemical Heritage Foundation (2010)
• Honorary Degree, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK (2010)
• ACS Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry (2011)
• TAMU at Qatar Adjunct Professor (2012)
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Invitation Fellowship Program of Research (2013)
• RWTH Aachen University Honorary Doctorate (Dr. rer. nat. h.c.) (2013)
• Einstein Professorship of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2014)
• KFUPM Visiting Chair Professor in the Center of Refining and Petrochemicals of the Research Institute (2014)
• Giulio Natta Award 2014 for Chemistry (2014)
• Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (FNAI) (2014)
• National Academy of Engineering of the National Academies (2015)
• Florida Inventors Hall of Fame (2015)
• Dean’s Award for Distinguished Achievement (Columbia University Alumni) (2015)
• Foreign Membership of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2015)
• Honorary Degree, Universitatea Politehnica din Bucuresti (2016)
• George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry (2017)