'From Matter to Life: Chemistry?!' Title of Oct. 18 Pitt Lecture by Nobel Prize Winner

PITTSBURGH-As part of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Chemistry's 28th Annual Bayer Distinguished Lectureship Series, Jean-Marie Lehn, a 1987 Nobel Laureate of Chemistry and a professor and researcher at the Collège de France, Paris, will deliver two lectures. The first, titled "From Matter to Life: Chemistry?!" will be held at 4 p.m. Oct. 18 in Room 12, Chevron Science Center, 219 Parkman Ave., Oakland. Lehn's second lecture, "From Supramolecular Chemistry to Constitutional Dynamic Chemistry," will be held at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 19 in Room 12B, Chevron Science Center.

Born in 1939 and raised in Rosheim, France, Lehn initially intended to study philosophy at the University of Strasbourg. However, he became enamored with organic chemistry, and upon receiving his B.A. degree in 1960, joined the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Lehn earned the Ph.D. degree in chemistry in 1963 and joined a research laboratory at Harvard University.

Upon returning to Strasbourg, Lehn further pursued his research in physical organic chemistry through quantum theory and physical methods; he became a full professor at Strasbourg in 1970. He has been a visiting professor of chemistry at Harvard and the Universities of Cambridge, Barcelona, and Frankfurt.

Today, he is a professor of chemistry and director of the Laboratoire de Chimie Supramoléculaire at the Collège de France, a position he assumed in 1980. He received a 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his extensive research and advances within the study of supramolecular systems.

Bayer MaterialScience, one of the world's largest producers of polymers and high-performance plastics, is hosting the event in conjunction with Pitt's Department of Chemistry.

For more information, contact Department of Chemistry Assistant Chair William Valenta at 412-624-8500 or valenta@pitt.edu.

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