Professor Sir J Fraser Stoddart, University of Birmingham alumnus and winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, is expected to call for scientists around the world to rally in support of global collaboration, during a guest lecture at the University tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov 1, 2016).
Professor Sir J Fraser Stoddart, University of Birmingham alumnus and winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, is expected to call for scientists around the world to rally in support of global collaboration, during a guest lecture at the University tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov 1, 2016).
Sir Fraser, who received a Nobel Prize earlier this month alongside his colleagues Jean-Pierre Sauvage and Bernard L. Feringa for their work into the design and synthesis of molecular machines, will present a lecture entitled ‘The Nature of the Mechanical Bond : From Molecules to Machines’ at the University’s School of Chemistry.
The lecture will touch upon Sir Fraser’s work on rotaxanes, the mechanically-interlocked molecules he developed as part of his prize-winning research. This work, along with that of his fellow prize-winners, has ‘miniaturised machines and taken chemistry to a new dimension,’ according to Nobel judges at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
In addition to talking about his research, Sir Fraser is expected to discuss the pivotal role of international collaboration in science, and to call on scientists to help ensure that freedom of movement remains possible in the future. He says:
‘My years at the University of Birmingham left me in no doubt that the gathering together of brilliant and gifted young people from all around Europe and beyond, under the pseudonyms of creativity and achievement, can produce wonders in science.
‘My hope is that the road to Stockholm from the UK will become a well-trodden path in future, by scientists of all nationalities working in harmony.’
Sir Fraser, who received an honorary degree from the University of Birmingham in 2005, began his research at the University of Sheffield in the 1980s before joining the University of Birmingham from 1990 until 1997. His Nobel Prize-winning research paper was published during his tenure as Haworth Chair of Chemistry and Head of the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham.
The award brought the total number of Nobel Prize winners from the University of Birmingham to eleven, and was the third received by University alumni in the field of Chemistry.
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