Nobel Laureates in chemistry: Down memory lane

2001 WILLIAM S. KNOWLES, RYOJI NOYORI and K. BARRY SHARPLESS for developing catalytic asymmetric synthesis. The achievements are of great importance for the development of new drugs and materials.2000-1991

2000-1991

2000 ALAN J. HEEGER, ALAN G. MACDIARMID, and HIDEKI SHIRAKAWA for the discovery and development of conductive polymers.

1999 AHMED ZEWAIL for his research and studies of transition states of chemical reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy.

1998 WALTER KOHN for his development of the density-functional theory and JOHN A. POPLE for his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry.

1997 PAUL D. BOYER and JOHN E. WALKER for their elucidation of the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and JENS C. SKOU for the first discovery of an ion-transporting enzyme, Na+, K+-ATPase.

1996 ROBERT F. CURL, Jr. , SIR HAROLD W. KROTO , and RICHARD E. SMALLEY for discovering fullerenes.

1995 PAUL CRUTZEN , MARIO MOLINA , and F. SHERWOOD ROWLAND for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone.

1994 GEORGE A. OLAH for his contribution to carbocation chemistry. 1993 KARY B. MULLIS for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. and MICHAEL SMITH for their excellent fundamental contributions to the establishment of oligonucleiotide-based, site-directed mutagenesis and its development for protein studies.

1992 RUDOLPH A. MARCUS for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems.

1991 RICHARD R. ERNST for his contributions to the development of the methodology of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

1990-1981

1990 ELIAS JAMES COREY for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis.

1989 SIDNEY ALTMAN and THOMAS R. CECH for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA.

1988 JOHANN DEISENHOFER , ROBERT HUBER and HARTMUT MICHEL for the determination of the three-dimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre.

1987 DONALD J. CRAM , JEAN-MARIE LEHN and CHARLES J. PEDERSEN for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity.

1986 DUDLEY R. HERSCHBACH , YUAN T. LEE and JOHN C. POLANYI for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes.

1985 HERBERT A. HAUPTMAN and JEROME KARLE for their outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures.

1984 ROBERT BRUCE MERRIFIELD for his development of methodology for chemical synthesis on a solid matrix.

1983 HENRY TAUBE for his work on the mechanisms of electron transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes.

1982 SIR AARON KLUG for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nuclei acid-protein complexes.

1981 KENICHI FUKUI and ROALD HOFFMANN for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions.

1980-1971

1980 PAUL BERG for his fundamental studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA, and WALTER GILBERT and FREDERICK SANGER for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids.

1979 HERBERT C. BROWN and GEORG WITTIG for their development of the use of boron- and phosphorus-containing compounds, respectively, into important reagents in organic synthesis. 1978 PETER D. MITCHELL for his contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory.

1977 ILYA PRIGOGINE for his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures.

1976 WILLIAM N.. LIPSCOMB for his studies on the structure of boranes illuminating problems of chemical bonding.

1975 SIR JOHN WARCUP CORNFORTH for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions and VLADIMIR PRELOG for his research into the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions.

1974 PAUL J. FLORY for his fundamental achievements, both theoretical and experimental, in the physical chemistry of the macromolecules.

1973 ERNST OTTO FISCHER and SIR GEOFFREY WILKINSON for their pioneering work, performed independently, on the chemistry of the organometallic, so called sandwich compounds.

1972 CHRISTIAN B. ANFINSEN for his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active confirmation and STANFORD MOORE and WILLIAM H. STEIN for their contribution to the understanding of the connection between chemical structure and catalytic activity of the active centre of the ribonuclease molecule.

1971 GERHARD HERZBERG for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals.

1970-1961

1970 LUIS F. LELOIR for his discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates.

1969 SIR DEREK H. R. BARTON and ODD HASSEL for their contributions to the development of the concept of conformation and its application in chemistry.

1968 LARS ONSAGER for the discovery of the reciprocal relations bearing his name, which are fundamental for the thermodynamics of irreversible processes.

1967 MANFRED EIGEN and RONALD GEORGE WREYFORD NORRISH and LORD GEORGE PORTER for their studies of extremely fast chemical reactions, effected by disturbing the equilibrium by means of very short pulses of energy.

1966 ROBERT S. MULLIKEN for his fundamental work concerning chemical bonds and the electronic structure of molecules by the molecular orbital method.

1965 ROBERT BURNS WOODWARD for his outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis.

1964 DOROTHY CROWFOOT HODGKIN for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances.

1963 KARL ZIEGLER and GIULIO NATTA for their discoveries in the field of the chemistry and technology of high polymers.

1962 MAX FERDINAND PERUTZ and SIR JOHN COWDERY KENDREW for their studies of the structures of globular proteins.

1961 MELVIN CALVIN for his research on the carbon dioxide assimilation in plants.

1960-1951

1960 WILLARD FRANK LIBBY for his method to use carbon-14 for age determination in archaeology, geology, geophysics, and other branches of science.

1959 JAROSLAV HEYROVSKY for his discovery and development of the polarographic methods of analysis.

1958 FREDERICK SANGER for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin.

1957LORD ALEXANDER R. TODD for his work on nucleotides and nucleotide co- enzymes.

1956 SIR CYRIL NORMAN HINSHELWOOD and NIKOLAY NIKOLAEVICH SEMENOV for their researches into the mechanism of chemical reactions.

1955 VINCENT DU VIGNEAUD for his work on biochemically important sulphur compounds, especially for the first synthesis of a polypeptide hormone.

1954 LINUS CARL PAULING for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances. 1953 HERMANN STAUDINGER for his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry.

1952 ARCHER JOHN PORTER MARTIN and RICHARD LAURENCE MILLINGTON SYNGE for their invention of partition chromatography.

1951 EDWIN MATTISON MC MILLAN and GLENN THEODORE SEABORG for their discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements.

1950-1941

1950 OTTO PAUL HERMANN DIELS and KURT ALDER for their discovery and development of the diene synthesis.

1949 WILLIAM FRANCIS GIAUQUE for his contributions in the field of chemical thermodynamics, particularly concerning the behaviour of substances at extremely low temperatures.

1948 ARNE WILHELM KAURIN TISELIUS for his research on electrophoresis and adsorption analysis, especially for his discoveries concerning the complex nature of the serum proteins.

1947 SIR ROBERT ROBINSON for his investigations on plant products of biological importance, the alkaloids.

1946 JAMES BATCHELLER SUMNER for his discovery that enzymes can be crystallized, and JOHN HOWARD NORTHROP and WENDELL MEREDITH STANLEY for their preparation of enzymes and virus proteins in a pure form.

1945 ARTTURI ILMARI VIRTANEN for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method.

1944 OTTO HAHN for his discovery of the fission of heavy nuclei.

1943 GEORGE DE HEVESY for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes.

1940-1931

1939 ADOLF FRIEDRICH JOHANN BUTENANDT for his work on sex hormones and LEOPOLD RUZICKA for his work on polymethylenes and higher terpenes.

1938 RICHARD KUHN for his work on carotenoids and vitamins.

1937 SIR WALTER NORMAN HAWORTH for his investigations on carbohydrates and vitamin C and PAUL KARRER for his investigations on carotenoids, flavins and vitamins A and B2.

1936 PETRUS (PETER) JOSEPHUS WILHELMUS DEBYE for his contributions to our knowledge of molecular structure through his investigations on dipole moments and on the diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases.

1935 FR-D-RIC JOLIOT and IRENE JOLIOT-CURIE in recognition of their synthesis of new radioactive elements.

1934 HAROLD CLAYTON UREY for his discovery of heavy hydrogen.

1932 IRVING LANGMUIR for his discoveries and investigations in surface chemistry.

1931 CARL BOSCH and FRIEDRICH BERGIUS in recognition of their contributions to the invention and development of chemical high pressure methods.

1930-1921

1930 HANS FISCHER for his researches into the constitution of haemin and chlorophyll and especially for his synthesis of haemin.

1929 SIR ARTHUR HARDEN and HANS KARL AUGUST SIMON VON EULER- CHELPIN for their investigations on the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes.

1928 ADOLF OTTO REINHOLD WINDAUS for the services rendered through his research into the constitution of the sterols and their connection with the vitamins.

1927 HEINRICH OTTO WIELAND for his investigations of the constitution of the bile acids and related substances.

1926 THE (THEODOR) SVEDBERG for his work on disperse systems.

1925 RICHARD ADOLF ZSIGMONDY for his demonstration of the heterogenous nature of colloid solutions and for the methods he used, which have since become fundamental in modern colloid chemistry.

1923 FRITZ PREGL for his invention of the method of micro- analysis of organic substances.

1922 FRANCIS WILLIAM ASTON for his discovery, by means of his mass spectrograph, of isotopes, in a large number of non- radioactive elements, and for his enunciation of the whole-number rule.

1921 FREDERICK SODDY , for his contributions to our knowledge of the chemistry of radioactive substances, and his investigations into the origin and nature of isotopes.

1920-1911

1920 WALTHER HERMANN NERNST in recognition of his work in thermochemistry.

1918 FRITZ HABER for the synthesis of ammonia from its elements.

1915 RICHARD MARTIN WILLST-TTER for his researches on plant pigments, especially chlorophyll.

1914 THEODORE WILLIAM RICHARDS , in recognition of his accurate determinations of the atomic weight of a large number of chemical elements.

1913 ALFRED WERNER in recognition of his work on the linkage of atoms in molecules by which he has thrown new light on earlier investigations and opened up new fields of research especially in inorganic chemistry.

1912 VICTOR GRIGNARD for the discovery of the so-called Grignard reagent, which in recent years has greatly advanced the progress of organic chemistry and PAUL SABATIER for his method of hydrogenating organic compounds in the presence of finely disintegrated metals.

1911 MARIE CURIE, n{sbquo}e Marie Sklodowska, for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.

1910-1901

1910 OTTO WALLACH in recognition of his services to organic chemistry and the chemical industry by his pioneer work in the field of alicyclic compounds.

1909 WILHELM OSTWALD in recognition of his work on catalysis and for his investigations into the fundamental principles governing chemical equilibria and rates of reaction.

1908 LORD ERNEST RUTHERFORD was awarded the prize for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances.

1907 EDUARD BUCHNER for his biochemical researches and his discovery of cellfree fermentation.

1906 HENRI MOISSAN for isolation of the element fluorine, and for the adoption in the service of science of the electric furnace called after him.

1905 JOHANN FRIEDRICH WILHELM ADOLF VON BAEYER for his work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds.

1904 SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY for the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air, and his determination of their place in the periodic system.

1903 SVANTE AUGUST ARRHENIUS for his electrolytic theory of dissociation.

1902 HERMANN EMIL FISCHER for his work on sugar and purine syntheses.

1901 JACOBUS HENRICUS VAN'T HOFF for discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions.

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