George Whitesides
The IIT Department of Chemisty is proud to welcome Harvard University Department of Chemistry’s Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor George Whitesides as the 2011 Kilpatrick Lecture speaker. A world renowned scientist and advocate for chemistry as a solution to global health and energy needs, Whitesides will give a technical lecture and lead a panel discussion on Friday, September 23 in the MTCC Ballroom and Auditorium.
A pioneer in fundamental research who pushes the bounds of interdisciplinary collaboration to establish new fields in science and develop them towards practical applications with the potential to change the everyday world in which we live, Whitesides is the founder of Diagnostics for All, a nonprofit enterprise to provide low-cost, easy to use postage-stamp-sized diagnostics tools to be used onsite in developing countries.
Whitesides is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is an advisor to the National Science Foundation, NASA, Department of Defense, and National Research Council. Co-author of more than 1,100 articles, holder of more than 100 patents, and founder of twelve companies, he is ranked #1 on the Hirsh Index of living chemists. Whitesides is winner of the Dreyfus Prize for new materials that have advanced chemistry and its societal benefits, as well as the Franklin Medal, awarded to those whose great innovation has benefited humanity, advanced science, launched new fields of inquiry, and deepened our understanding of the universe.
“Whitesides’s contributions to science range into biology, engineering, physiology, materials science, physics, and especially these days, nanotechnology. Other scientists, government leaders, inventors, and investors worldwide want to hear from him.” – Smithsonian Magazine
Learn more and register for the lecture on the Kilpatrick lecture website.
About the Martin and Mary Kilpatrick Lecture Series
Martin and Mary Kilpatrick IIT’s annual Kilpatrick Lecture honors Martin and Mary Kilpatrick, who were outstanding researchers and educators. Martin served as chair of IIT’s Department of Chemistry from 19471960, leading the department to national prominence in both undergraduate and graduate instruction and research. As a scientist, Martin made his mark in fundamental chemical research in areas of physical and inorganic chemistry, and material science. Mary was a chemistry faculty member from 19471964.
The Kilpatricks devoted their lives to the critical and creative study of chemistry, particularly chemical kinetics, acid-based reactions, and electrolyte chemistry. Before coming to IIT in 1947, Martin was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and assisted Harold Urey in the Manhattan Project at Columbia University. Both Kilpatricks were Fulbright research scholars who studied in Denmark under the legendary J. N. Bronsted.
As chair at IIT, Martin guided the department during a period of vigorous growth and development in both teaching and research. Initially, the department occupied all of Wishnick Hallone of the three new buildings by Mies van der Rohe that marked the beginning of today’s modern Main Campus.
In recognition of the Kilpatricks’s achievements at IIT, Martin’s successor, Arthur E. Martell, and faculty colleagues instituted the now permanently endowed Kilpatrick Lecture Series.