May 30, 2003
Ryoji Noyori
chemistry professor
2001 Nobel Prize in chemistry
Ryoji
Noyori 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
his accomplishments.
During the 1970s, Noyori's pioneering research yielded a new molecule
called BINAP, whose properties opened up new possibilities in chemistry
and chemical engineering, and made existing processes more efficient.
This innovation was especially welcome in Nagoya, a major Japanese manufacturing
centre for hundreds of years. Noyori has been a faculty member at the
Nagoya University since 1968 and is currently director of the university's
Research Centre for Materials Science. In addition to sitting on the editorial
boards of more than 30 international journals, he has also served as science
advisor for the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology.
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