A Lifetime of Chemistry: Reflections of a Nobel Laureate

Richard Schrock received the 2005 Nobel Laureate Prize in Chemistry for his work on metathesis, a process now widely used in the development of pharmaceuticals and in the manufacture of advanced plastic materials. Specifically, Schrock discovered a metal-compound catalyst that triggers metathesis, a chemical reaction that breaks and reconstructs the bonds between carbon atoms and the clusters the atoms form. His work was an important advancement in "green chemistry" as a method that reduces potentially hazardous waste through smarter production. Schrock earned a PhD from Harvard University, did postdoctoral work at Cambridge, and joined the faculty at MIT in 1975. He is has held the position of Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry at MIT since 1989. The 2011 Iowa State Presidential Lectureship in Chemistry.