Richard R. Schrock life and biography

American chemist Richard R. Schrock found an efficient metal-compound catalyst that triggers metathesis, a phenomenon discovered in the 1950s, and first explained by Yves Chauvin in 1971. In metathesis -- which means, literally, trading places -- special catalyst molecules trigger double bonds to break and reconstruct between carbon atoms, causing atom clusters to change partners. Metathesis is now widely used in the chemical industry, both in development of new pharmaceuticals and in the manufacture of advanced plastic materials. Two years after Schrock found a catalyst for metathesis, Robert H. Grubbs devised an even more efficient catalyst, and all three men shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005.

Born in Berne, Indiana, Schrock went to Mission Bay High School in San Diego, California. He holds a B.A. (1967) from the University of California, Riverside and a Ph. D. (1971) from Harvard University. At Harvard he studied under J.A. Osborn. In 1971-72, he carried out postdoctoral studies at the University of Cambridge with Lord Jack Lewis. In 1972, he was hired by DuPont, where he worked at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware in the group of George Parshall. He joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and became full professor in 1980.

Awards and honors:

Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2005 (with Yves Chauvin and Robert H. Grubbs)
Dow Chemical 1966
DuPont 1972-75
National Science Foundation Board of Directors (1971-72)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
American Chemical Society
Science Debate 2008

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