Rudolph A. Marcus

Biography

Abstract

Rudolph A. Marcus was awarded the Nobel Prize of Chemistry in 1992 "for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems." A heavily published and awarded chemist and researcher, Marcus greatly contributed to the modern field of chemistry. Throughout his career, he has developed his theories and discoveries with many Universities and professional organizations around the world such as McGill University, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the California Institute of Technology, and numerous others.

Important Dates

July 21, 1923Birth, Montréal (Québec).

1943Obtained BSc in Chemisty, McGill Univeristy, Montréal (Québec).

1943Awarded Anne Molson Prize in Chemistry, McGill University, Montréal (Québec).

1946Obtained PhD in Chemistry, McGill University, Montréal (Québec).

1946Post-Doctoral Junior Research Officer, National Research Council of Canada, Ontario (Canada).

1951Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill (N.C.).

1951Co-authored and published work on RRK theory with Rice, Ramsperger, and Kassel.

1951 – 1964Assistant Professor; Associate Professor; Professor; Acting Head, Division of Chemistry, Polytechnic University, Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.).

1958Obtains United States citizenship.

1960NSF Senior Post-Doctoral Fellowship, National Science Foundation (NSF).

1960Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

1964 – 1968Joined faculty (1964) and Associate Member, Center for Advanced Studies (1968), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana (Ill.).

1970Member (1970) and Fellow (1973), National Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1975 – 1976Visiting Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, IBM, University of Oxford, Oxford (England).

1976Awarded Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Scientist Award, Technical University of Munich.

1978Awarded the Irving Langmuir Award, American Chemical Society.

1978 – 2012Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (Calif.).

1982Awarded the Robinson Medal, Faraday Division, Royal Society of Chemistry.

1982Renaud Foundation Lectureship, American Chemical Society, University of Nebraska Section.

1983Awarded Chandler Medal, Columbia University.

1983Honorary Doctorate Degree, University of Chicago, Illinois.

1985Awarded Wolf Prize in Chemistry.

1986Honorary Doctorate degree, University of Göteborg, Sweden.

1986Honorary Doctorate degree, Polytechnic University, Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.).

1986Commemorative issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry published.

1987Member, International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.

1987Foreign Member, Royal Society, London.

1988S. C. Lind Lectureship, American Chemical Society, East Tennessee Section.

1988Awarded the Peter Debye Award, American Chemical Society.

1988Honorary Doctorate degree, McGill University, Montréal (Québec).

1988Awarded Centenary Medals, Faraday Division, Royal Society of Chemistry.

1988Awarded Willard Gibbs Medal, American Chemical Society, Chicago Section.

1989Awarded National Medal of Science, National Science Foundation.

1990Awarded William Lloyd Evens Award, Ohio State University.

1990Awarded the Theodore William Richards Award, American Chemical Society, Northeatern Section.

1990 – 1999Member (1990) and Member of Council (1999), American Philosophical Society.

1991Honorary Member, Royal Society of Chemistry.

1991Awarded Linus Pauling Award, American Chemical Society, Oregon, Portland, and Puget Sound Sections.

1991Awarded the Remsen Award, American Chemical Society, Maryland Section.

1991Awarded the Edgar Fahs Smith Award, American Chemical Society, Philadelphia Section.

1992Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems".

1993Awarded Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry, University of Wisconsin Theoretical Chemistry Institute.

1993Honorary Doctorate degree, University of New Brunswick, Canada.

1993Awarded Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement.

1993Honorary Doctorate degree, Queen's University, Canada.

1993Member, Royal Society of Canada.

1994Honorary Member, International Society of Electrochemistry.

1994Named Honorary Citizen of Winnipeg.

1994Awarded Lavoisier Medal, Société Française de Chimie.

1996Linnett Visiting Professor of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (England).

1996Honorary Doctorate degree, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

1996Honorary Doctorate degree, Yokohama National University, Japan.

1996Awarded G.M. Kosolapoff Award, American Chemical Society, Auburn Section.

1996Honorary Editor, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry.

1996Honorary Member, Korean Chemical Society.

1997Awarded the Oesper Award, American Chemical Society, Cincinnati Section.

1997Awarded Award in Theoretical Chemistry, American Chemical Society.

1997Honorary Doctorate degree, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

1997Honorary Co-President, 29th International Chemistry Olympiad, Montréal (Québec).

1998Honorary Doctorate degree, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

1998Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

1998Awarded Top 75 Award, Chemical and Engineering News, American Chemical Society, Boston Section.

1999Honorary Doctorate degree, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain.

1999Awarded key to the city of Taipei, Taiwan.

2000Honorary Doctoral degree, Northwestern University.

2002Honorary Doctorate degree, University of Waterloo, Canada.

2003Honorary Board Member, The Angelo Roncalli International Committee.

2003Honorary Board Member, The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

2004Honorary Member, European Academy of Sciences.

2004First Honorary Scientific Fellow, Literary & Historical Society, University College, Dublin, Ireland.

2006Awarded Sesquicentennial Medal, Polytechnic University, Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.).

2008Honorary Member, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo, Japan.

2008Honorary Member, Institute from Advanced Studies, Technical University of Munich, Germany.

2008Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award in Theoretical Chemistry, Theory and Application Computational Chemistry Conference (TACC), Shanghai, China.

2008Member, International Panel of Advisors, Institute of Advanced Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

2010Honorary Academician, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.

2010Honorary Doctorate degree, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

2012Inauguration of “Rudy Marcus Chemical Sciences Laboratories,” Chemistry Department, McGill University.

2012Honorary Doctorate degree, Tumkur University, India.

2012Honorary Doctorate degree, University of Hyderabad, India.

2013Rudolph A. Marcus Conference and Festival, Singapore.

2013Honorary Doctorate degree, University of Calgary, Canada.

2014Induction into Alpha Chi Sigma Hall of Fame.

2015Chairman, International Peer Review of the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University (Beijing da xue), China.

2016Honorary Editor, Springer Book Series Progress in Theoretical Chemistry and Physics.

Occupation

Theoretical chemist.

Places

Birth

Montréal (Québec)

Undergraduate Education

Montréal (Québec)

Graduate Education

Montréal (Québec)

Employment

Ontario (Canada)

Chapel Hill (N.C.)

Urbana (Ill.)

Oxford (England)

Pasadena (Calif.)

Subjects

Chemistry.

Electrostatic accelerators.

Kinetic theory of gases.

Relationships

People

Family

Hearne, Laura

Wife, married 1952.

Marcus, Alan

Son.

Marcus, Ester

Mother.

Marcus, Kenneth

Son.

Marcus, Myer

Father.

Marcus, Raymond

Son.

Advisors & Collaborators

Rice, Oscar Knefler, 1903-1978

Research Advisor at UNC Chapel Hill.

Steacie, Edgar William Richard

Lead photochemistry group at National Research Council of Canada.

Winkler, Carl A.

Advisor at McGill University.

Additional

Kirk, Raymond

Né Markus, Henrik Steen

Great-Uncle, academic influence to Marcus.

Institutions

Major Positions

California Institute of Technology. Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry.

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn

Assistant Professor; Associate Professor; Professor; Acting Head, Division of Chemistry; Honorary Doctorate degree (1986); and Sesquicentennial Medal (2006).

University of Cambridge

Linnett Visiting Professor of Chemistry.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Center for Advanced Study

Faculty and Associate Member, Center for Advanced Studies.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Chemistry

Professor and Head, Division of Physical Chemistry.

University of Oxford

Visiting Professor of Theoretical Chemistry; Professional Fellow; and Honorary Doctorate degree (1995).

Professional Activities & Affiliations

Academy of Achievement

Received Golden Plate Award (1993).

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship.

Alpha Chi Sigma

Member, Hall of Fame.

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Member.

American Chemical Society

Received Peter Debye Award (1988); Irving Langmuir Award (1978); Renaud Foundation Lectureship, Michigan State University Section; Nebraska Lectureship, University of Nebraska Section; Willard Gibbs Medal, Chicago Section (1988); S.C. Lind Lectureship, East Tennessee Section; and Theodore William Richards Award, Northeastern Section. (1990); Linus Pauling Award, Oregon, Portland, and Puget Sound Sections (1991); Remsen Award, Maryland Section (1991); Edgar Fahs Smith Award, Philadelphia Section (1991); G.M. Kosolapoff Award, Auburn Section (1996); Award in Theoretical Chemistry (1997); Oesper Award, Cincinnati Section (1997); Top 75 Award, Chemical and Engineering News, Boston Section (1998).

American Philosophical Society

Member and Member of Council.

American Physical Society

Member.

Beijing da xue

Chairman, International Peer Review of the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering.

Columbia University

Received Chandler Medal (1983).

Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Member.

European Academy of Sciences and Arts

Honorary Member.

Fu dan da xue (Shanghai, China)

Honorary Professor.

Göteborgs universitet

Honorary Doctorate degree (1986).

International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science

Member.

International journal of quantum chemistry. Quantum chemistry symposium

Honorary Editor.

International Society of Electrochemistry

Honorary Member.

McGill University

Received BSc degree (1943), PhD (1946), and Honorary Doctorate degree (1988).

Nanyang jiao yu xue yuan

Visiting Nanyang Professor.

National Academy of Arts and Sciences

Member and Fellow.

National Research Council of Canada

Junior Research Officer.

National Science Foundation (U.S.)

Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship and received National Medal of Science (1989).

Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)

Honorary Doctorate degree (2000).

Ohio State University

Received William Lloyd Evens Award (1990).

P'ohang Kongkwa Taehak (Korea)

Tree planting ceremony, Nobel Garden.

Qingdao hai yang da xue

Honorary Professor.

Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.). Department of Physics

Honorary Doctorate degree (1993).

Royal Society (Great Britain)

Foreign Member.

Royal Society of Canada

Member.

Royal Society of Chemistry (Great Britain)

Received Robinson Medal, Faraday Division (1982); Centenary Medals, Faraday Division (1988); Spiers Medal, University of Wales Institute (2009); and Honorary Member.

Société française de chimie

Received Lavoisier Medal, (1994).

Taehan Hwaakhoe

Honorary Member.

Technische Universität München

Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Senior Scientist Award; Honorary Member, Institute for Advanced Studies; and Distinguished Affliated Professor.

Tianjin da xue

Honorary Professor.

Tōkyō-to Nihon Kagaku Miraikan

Honorary Member.

Tumkur University

Honorary Distinguished Professor.

University College, Dublin. Physics Department

First Honorary Scientific Fellow, Literary & Historical Society.

University of Calgary

Honorary Doctorate degree (2013).

University of Chicago

Honorary Doctorate degree (1983).

University of Hyderabad

Honorary Doctorate degree (2012).

University of New Brunswick

Honorary Doctorate Degree (1993).

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Honorary Doctorate degree (1996).

University of Wisconsin--Madison

Received Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry, the Theoretical Chemistry Institute (1993).

Wenzhou yi xue yuan

Honorary Professor.

Wolf Foundation Prizes

Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1985).

Zhong yang yan jiu yuan

Honorary Academician.

Zhongguo ke xue yuan

Member; Honorary Professor, Institute of Chemistry; and Honorary Professor, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics.

Resources

Archival Resources

Subject

Nobel Voices Videohistory Project collection, 2000-2001.

Archives Center

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History.

MRC 601, 12th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA

Oral history interview with Rudolph Arthur Marcus, 1982.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Rudolph A. Marcus papers, 1951-2001.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA