George M. Whitesides

George McClelland Whitesides
George M. Whitesides, 2010
Born	(1939-08-03) August 3, 1939 (age 77) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Residence	U.S.
Nationality	American
Fields	chemistry, nanotechnology
Institutions	Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Harvard University California Institute of Technology
Thesis	The configurational stability of primary Grignard reagents. Applications of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to the study of molecular asymmetry (1964)
Doctoral advisor	John D. Roberts
Doctoral students	Craig L. Hill, Chi-Huey Wong, Younan Xia
Known for	The Corey-House-Posner-Whitesides reaction Contributions in the fields of NMR spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecular self-assembly, soft lithography,microfabrication, microfluidics, and nanotechnology.
Notable awards	ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1975) Arthur C. Cope Award (1995) National Medal of Science (1998) Kyoto Prize (2003) Dan David Prize (2005) Linus Pauling Award (2005) Priestley Medal (2007) R&D Magazine – Scientist of the Year (2007) Othmer Gold Medal (2010) King Faisal International Prize (2011) IRI Medal (2013)

External video

Publishing Your Research 101 Impact of technology on scientific articles, George Whitesides, American Chemical Society, April 29, 2011

Zero cost diagnostics George Whitesides, TEDxBoston, August 10, 2009

Toward a science of simplicity, George Whitesides, TED, April 29, 2010

Talking Nano: Perspectives on Nanotechnology (1 of 4), George Whitesides, Museum of Science, Boston, October 26, 2007

The Courage to Go Off and Start New Things, George Whitesides, Chemical Heritage Foundation, June 17, 2010

ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1975)
Arthur C. Cope Award (1995)
National Medal of Science (1998)
Kyoto Prize (2003)
Dan David Prize (2005)
Linus Pauling Award (2005)
Priestley Medal (2007)
R&D Magazine – Scientist of the Year (2007)
Othmer Gold Medal (2010)
King Faisal International Prize (2011)
IRI Medal (2013)

George M. Whitesides (born August 3, 1939) is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at Harvard University. He is best known for his work in the areas of NMR spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecular self-assembly, soft lithography,microfabrication, microfluidics, and nanotechnology. A prolific author and patent holder who has received many awards, he received the highest Hirsch index rating of all living chemists in 2011.

Whitesides attended secondary school at Phillips Andover and graduated in 1957. He received his A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1960 and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1964, where he worked with John D. Roberts. At Caltech, Whitesides began working in organic chemistry. Whitesides' graduate work in organometallic chemistry used NMR spectroscopy and density matrices to study Grignard reagents. He used NMR spectroscopy to study rate of change of Grignard reagents and the structure of Grignard reagents in solution. He also studied spin-spin coupling in a variety of organic compounds, using density matrix calculations to examine the spin systems that NMR analyses detect.