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MY NOBEL FRIEND

MY NOBEL FRIEND. Rudolph A. Marcus. 1992 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. OUTLINE. CHILDHOOD. EDUCATION. WORLD OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES. HIS CLAIM TO FAME. CURRENT RESEARCH. PUBLICATIONS. IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS. ACADEMIC POSITION. FAMILY. Childhood of Marcus.

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MY NOBEL FRIEND

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  1. MY NOBEL FRIEND

  2. Rudolph A. Marcus 1992 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

  3. OUTLINE CHILDHOOD • EDUCATION • WORLD OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES • HIS CLAIM TO FAME • CURRENT RESEARCH • PUBLICATIONS • IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS • ACADEMIC POSITION • FAMILY

  4. Childhood of Marcus • The only son of Myer and Esther Cohen Marcus • Born on July 21, 1923 (Montreal, Canada) • Admired his father’s athletic prowess • Admired his mother’s expressive singing and piano playing • His two paternal uncles were his academic “idols”

  5. Education • His interest in the sciences started with mathematics. • Fascinated with chemistry in early high school because of the “proverbial home chemistry set”.

  6. Education • 1941- He attended McGill University. • Marcus majored in Chemistry- the field which he felt “most comfortable”. • He took a number of math courses, more than other students in chemistry. • At McGill, he found the course in kinetics “intriguing”.

  7. “I always loved school. It was natural to go on to graduate school. It wasn’t though I was going to make terrific discoveries. That didn't play any part” --R.A.M

  8. Education • 1943- He received his Bachelor of Science degree. • He specialized in the rates of chemical reactions. • 1946- He received his Ph.D at the age of 22.

  9. World of Chemistry • At the NRC, he did experimental work under E.W.R. Steacie on free-radical reactions. • 1949-1951- He obtained a postdoctoral position with Oscar K. Rice at University of North Carolina. • As a beginning of his theoretical work, he examined unimolecular reactions. • Marcus concentrated on the RRK (Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel) theory proposed in the 1920s, before quantum mechanics. • 1952- “putting little pieces together”, RRK eventually became known as the RRKM (Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus) theory.

  10. RRKM (Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus) theory • This method enables the computation of simple estimates of the unimolecular reaction rates from a few characteristics of the potential energy surface.

  11. World of Chemistry • He got no positive responses to 35 letters of inquiry for a faculty position. • 1951- he managed to secure a position at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. • Due to lack of experimental data in unimolecular reactions, he temporarily leave the theoretical area and return to doing experiments and calculations. • 1952- he happened to chance on a symposium journal issue on electron-transfer reactions and was drawn to an electrostatic calculation by W.F. Libby to explain the small rate constants.

  12. World of Chemistry • He sensed that something was wrong with Libby’s calculation, although unsure what the error was. • He recognized that Libby’s calculation was not appropriate for thermal electron transfers • He then found a way to calculate the free energy of the ions in solution as a function of a nonequilibrium dielecric polarization. • In an intense period of activity for nine years, he formed the basis of what became the “MARCUS THEORY”.

  13. Marcus theory • To explain the rates of electron transfer reactions- the rate at which an electron can move or jump from one chemical species (electron donor) to another (electron acceptor).

  14. World of Chemistry • 1960- Marcus felt he needed to commit his time completely to theoretical work. • 1964- He moved to the University of Illinois and concentrated his interest in electron-transfer and reaction dynamics. • 1975-1976- He is a visiting professor at Oxford and Munich - He explored the electron transfer in photosynthesis • 1978- He accepted an offer from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

  15. Claim to Fame: • awarded the 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for his development of electron transfer theory during chemical reactions”. • His theory describes the thermodynamics and kinetics of how electron donor chemicals transfer electrons to electron acceptor chemicals during a reaction. • This theory helps explain reactions like oxidation, photosynthesis and cell metabolism.

  16. Current Research • “on-water” catalysis of organic reactions and the fluorescent intermittency of semiconductor nanoparticles (quantum dots) • mass-independent isotopic fractionation in the formation of ozone and other stratospheric gases • photolysis of the greenhouse gas N2O and the CO + OH reaction

  17. Publications • author of approximately 320 scientific articles • Co-editor of Tunneling in Biological Systems (1979) • Co-editor of Intramolecular Motion and Chemical Reaction (1990)

  18. Important Contributions • Theory of electron transfer reactions in solution • Theory of unimolecular reactions (RRKM theory) • Theory of ET reactions at electrodes and other interfaces • Semi classical theory of bound states • Semi classical theory of collisions • Reaction coordinates and Hamiltonians • Theory of product state distributions of unimolecular processes • Tunneling paths in chemical reactions

  19. Academic Position • Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry, Caltech (1978-)

  20. Family of Marcus Wife: Laura Hearne (deceased in 2003) Sons: Alan, Kenneth, and Raymond

  21. “ Your theory is a unifying factor in chemistry, promoting understanding of electron transfer reactions of biochemical, photochemical, inorganic and organic nature and thereby contributing to science as a whole. It has led to the development of many new research programs, demonstrating the lasting impact of your work. ” ---Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

  22. Thank you forlistening.

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