John D. Roberts

John Dombrowski Roberts ( born June 8, 1918 in Los Angeles, California) is an American chemist ( organic chemistry, NMR spectroscopy).

Life and work

Roberts studied at the University of California, Los Angeles with a bachelor 's degree in 1941 and his doctorate in 1944. 1945/46, he was instructor at Harvard University, and from 1946 Instructor and later associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and from 1953 Professor of Organic chemistry at Caltech, where he from 1963 to 1968 the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and led from 1980 to 1983 was Dean of the Faculty. From 1972 he was professor at Caltech Institute and is emeritus professor there since 1988.

He turned NMR spectroscopy to the study of organic compounds, examined the link between structure and reactivity, and dealt with organic compounds with small ring structures. In the eulogy for the Welch Prize, the combination of quantum mechanics, molecular spectroscopy, kinetics, and other areas of physical chemistry is highlighted with his talent for organic synthesis, and application to the explanation of the relationship between structure and reactivity of organic molecules. He was a long -time advisor to the DuPont Company (since 1949 ).

1952/53, and 1955 he was a Guggenheim Fellow. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1957 ), the Chemistry Department he chaired from 1968 to 1971, member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1952) and the American Philosophical Society. In 1990 he received the National Medal of Science, 1991, Glenn T. Seaborg Medal and the 1999 NAS Award in Chemical Sciences in 2009 and the NAS Award in Chemistry in Service to Society. In 1954 he received the Pure Chemistry Award of the American Chemical Society and the 1957 Harrison Howe Award. In 1967 he was awarded the Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry, 1980, the Linus Pauling Medal and 1987, the Priestley Medal. In 1990 he received the Welch Award in Chemistry and Willard Gibbs Medal in 1983. In 1994 he received the Arthur C. Cope Award and the Chemical Pioneer Award. In 2001 he received the Nakanishi price. He is a multiple honorary doctorate (University of Munich in 1962, Temple University, University of Notre Dame, University of Wales, Scripps Institute).

In 1990 his autobiography The right place and the right time. He has been married since 1942, has a daughter and three sons.

Writings

• Collected Works. Benjamin 1970
• Introduction to the analysis of spin -spin splitting in high resolution magnetic resonance. Benjamin 1963
• Nuclear magnetic resonance applications to organic chemistry. McGraw Hill 1959
• ABCs of FT- NMR, Sausalito. University Science Books 2000
• With Marjorie Caserio: Basic principles of organic chemistry. Benjamin 1964
• With Caserio: A study guide to Basic principles of organic chemistry. Benjamin 1977
• With Caserio: Modern organic chemistry. Benjamin 1967
• Notes on molecular orbital calculations. Benjamin 1961