Tobin Marks Awarded Prestigious Gibbs Medal in Chemistry

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Tobin J. Marks, the Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Catalytic Chemistry at Northwestern University, is the recipient of the American Chemical Society Chicago Section's 2001 Josiah Willard Gibbs Medal, regarded by many as the highest award given to chemists next to the Nobel Prize.

Twenty-six of the medalists honored since 1911 have become Nobel Laureates.

The Gibbs award recognizes outstanding research chemists who have made significant contributions to their fields of chemistry and whose work has made possible scientific developments that have contributed to the welfare of humanity. Medalists are selected by a national jury of eminent chemists from different chemical specialties.

Marks is one of only three Northwestern faculty members to receive the award. The others are Vladimir Ipatieff in 1940 and Fred Basolo in 1996.

The medal will be presented at a special ceremony May 18 at Argonne National Laboratory.

Marks will be honored for his original research that has had a major, lasting impact on important areas of chemical science, ranging from f-element coordination and organometallic chemistry, to homogeneous small molecule and polymerization catalysis, to molecule-based photonic materials, low-dimensional electronic conductors, oxide chemical vapor deposition, high temperature superconductors, and metallocene anti-tumor agents. His style embodies discriminating choice of problem, elegant synthesis, incisive elucidation of reaction mechanism, and decisive application of an awesome array of physicochemical techniques.

For over 30 years, Marks has conducted pioneering and interdisciplinary research in the areas of inorganic, organometallic, catalytic and materials chemistry. His research focuses on the design, synthesis and in-depth characterization of new substances having important chemical, physical and/or biological properties. His work is credited with having major impact on contemporary catalysis with seminal research in the areas of organo-f-element homogeneous catalysis, metal-ligand bonding energetics, supported organometallic catalysis, and metallocene polymerization catalysis.

He has been a leader in the development and understanding of single-site olefin polymerization catalysis (now a multi-billion dollar industry) as well as in the study of new materials having remarkable electrical, mechanical, interfacial and photonic properties.

Marks was the second most cited inorganic chemist worldwide from 1981 to 1997, according to a Science Citation Index analysis by the Institute for Scientific Information.

His numerous honors and awards include the 1989 American Chemical Society (ACS) Award in Organometallic Chemistry, 1994 ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry, the 2001 ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials, the 2000 F. A. Cotton Medal of the American Chemical Society's Texas A&M Section and the Texas A&M University chemistry department, for his "masterful and varied contributions to inorganic and organometallic chemistry" and the 1999 Paolo Chini Award of the Italian Chemical Society.

Marks’ most recent honor is the 2001 Robert Burwell Award of the North American Catalysis Society. The award is given in recognition of substantial contributions to one or more areas in the field of catalysis with emphasis on discovery and understanding of catalytic phenomena, catalytic reaction mechanisms and identification and description of catalytic sites and species.

Marks’ previous honors include election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and election to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded Guggenheim, Sloan, DuPont and Dreyfus fellowships. He has received the National Fresenius Award of Phi Lambda Upsilon Honorary Chemistry Fraternity, the Centenary Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Sobral Medal of the Portugese Chemical Society.

He has authored more than 600 articles in peer-reviewed journals, edited six books and holds 52 patents. Marks has also served the chemical community, organizing National Science Foundation, National Research Council and Department of Energy workshops, NATO institutes, ACS symposia, the Inorganic Gordon Conference and International MOCVD workshops.

He has served as chair of the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry and on numerous governmental advisory committees. He has mentored 70 Ph.D. students and nearly as many postdoctoral fellows. More than 50 of his students hold tenure-line academic positions worldwide.

Marks, who joined the Northwestern faculty in 1970, has held numerous lectureships and visiting professorships abroad. He has served on the editorial boards of major journals in his field and currently is associate editor of the American Chemical Society journal, Organometallics, the leading journal in organometallic chemistry.

He also serves on the advisory boards of several large corporations and start-up companies and on numerous government and scientific society advisory panels and committees.

Marks was appointed to the Ipatieff professorship for the period of Sept. 1, 1999, to Aug. 31, 2014.

He earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Maryland in 1966 and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970.

3/6/01