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Honorary Doctorate to Ryoji Noyori,
chemistry professor,
presented by François Chapleau, Acting Dean, Faculty of Science
2003-06-02
Chancellor:
Japanese Zen philosophy includes the paradoxical notion of an empty mirror.
This intriguing idea captures the goal of overcoming one's feelings and
preferences to achieve a higher spiritual end. The concept applies equally
well to individuals who put the needs
of society before any personal ambitions.
In this respect, we should feel quite comfortable in saying that Ryoji
Noyori's mirror is quite empty. He has spent more than 40 years in selfless
devotion to science, engaged in work that has yielded substantial technical
advances with highly practical implications.
Two years ago he shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry for these accomplishments,
but he is eager to extend this dramatic honour to the members of what
he calls his research family - colleagues who occupy his home university
in the city of Nagoya as well as
those in many other institutions around the world.
Mais à l'inverse, on peut dire également que le miroir
du professeur Noyori renvoie une image bien définie, celle d'un
homme qui a consacré la majeure partie de sa carrière à
définir les contours de molécules spécifiques, apportant
des solutions nouvelles
et exaltantes à des problèmes auxquels la chimie était
confrontée depuis longtemps. Ce faisant, il a réussi à
se distinguer.
Chemists refer to mirrored molecules as "chiral", similar in
structure but opposite in physical orientation, just like our left and
right hands. This difference is crucial to the physical behaviour of these
molecules, which can be utterly different from one another.
The chiral form of a highly beneficial drug, for example, can turn out
to be a deadly poison.
Chiral molecules are often produced together, using techniques that can
make them all but impossible to separate from one another. In fact, many
potentially important industrial enterprises have been frustrated by the
inability to sort out chiral compounds
in an efficient way. While pursuing his doctorate in the 1960s, however,
Professor Noyori encountered an interesting example of a process that
did yield a single chiral version of a complex organic metallic compound.
This discovery has captured his imagination
and his attention ever since.
Peu après son admission aux études postdoctorales à
Harvard, on a demandé au professeur Noyori de diriger un nouveau
laboratoire de chimie organique à l'université de Nagoya.
Il a réussi à mener à bien les deux entreprises,
faisant progresser les recherches à
Nagoya et créant des relations de travail fructueuses avec ses
collaborateurs américains, ce qui devait éventuellement
le mener au Prix Nobel.
Dans les années 1970, les travaux du professeur Noyori ont abouti
à la création d'une molécule chirale appelée
BINAP. S'il a tout de suite trouvé la forme complexe de cette molécule
d'une saisissante beauté, il a été encore plus impressionné
par ses propriétés :
elle permettait de synthétiser de façon asymétrique
de nombreuses matières en une seule forme chirale. Cette trouvaille
ouvrait de nouveaux horizons en chimie et en génie chimique, et
rendait les procédés déjà connus beaucoup
plus efficaces.
This innovation was especially welcome in Nagoya, which for hundreds
of years has been a major Japanese manufacturing centre. Professor Noyori
has been a faculty member at the university there since 1968, as well
as Dean of the Graduate School of Science and Director of the Chemical
Instrument Centre. In addition to participating in the editorial boards
of more than 30 international journals, he has also served as Science
Advisor and Member of the Scientific Council with the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He is currently Director of Nagoya
University's Research Centre for Materials Science.
Au plan international, la réussite du professeur Nayori a inspiré
toute la communauté scientifique nipponne. Il fait partie des quatre
chercheurs japonais qui ont reçu un Prix Nobel au cours des trois
dernières années, une performance qui rend justice à
des
méthodes de recherche couronnées de succès, qui sont
maintenant la norme pour le 21e siècle.
For this reason, Chancellor, in the name of the Senate of the University
of Ottawa, I present to you for the degree of Doctor of the University,
Ryoji Noyori, a figure who needs no mirror to reflect the finest qualities
to be found in any of us.
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