THE WELCH FOUNDATION
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1999 Welch Award Taps Stanford Chemist for 'Renaissance' Achievements
$300,000 Prize Recognizes Lifetime Contributions
in Research, Teaching, Scientific Outreach
HOUSTON - May 11, 1999 - Called a "renaissance" man by colleagues for the
depth and breadth of his interests, Richard N. Zare was named the 1999
recipient of the Welch Award in Chemistry today for his lifetime
achievements in physical and analytical chemistry.
Dr. Zare's interests focus on the development and application of lasers and
other novel instruments to explore chemical frontiers, ranging from molecules to
chemical processes, from the inside of cells to the inside of meteorites.
The Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor of Natural Science at Stanford University,
Dr. Zare also is known as an outstanding teacher and a leading proponent of
science policy and education, most recently having served as chairman on the
National Science Board.
"Richard Zare's contributions have made a difference in the way we all think
about many important areas of chemistry," says Richard J. V. Johnson, Welch
Foundation chairman. "He has been called the master laser chemist of our time,
with his work combining the pursuit of basic understanding with highly practical
analytic applications. In addition, he is renowned as a teacher and as a
statesman for science."
One of Dr. Zare's most interesting projects was his analysis of a Martian
meteorite for NASA that provided intriguing circumstantial evidence that
microbial life may once have existed on Mars. His role in the joint study was
to identify organic material in the meteorite that appears to have originated on
the Red Planet.
While the most publicized area of his research, it is but one example of a
career that has been focused on "seeing" - molecules, cells, chemical reactions
- in ways never before possible. He has developed new techniques for detecting
genetic defects, quantifying trace elements in the atmosphere, measuring
electrical signals and investigating the biochemistry of memory.
"Giving us the ability to detect and identify molecules in unimaginably small
concentrations, Dick Zare's innovative development and application of laser
technologies to key problems in chemistry have illuminated critical new
knowledge," says Norman Hackerman, chairman of the Foundation's Scientific
Advisory Board. "His research combines great breadth of interest with great
depth of insight," Dr. Hackerman adds. "He pays meticulous attention to care
and rigor, earning the kudos of his scientific colleagues who call his work
'exquisitely intelligent'."
The pioneer of laser-induced fluorescence and other investigative techniques now
used in labs around the world, Dr. Zare has applied instrumentation
imaginatively to practical problems in chemical reaction dynamics, remote
sensing, trace chemical analysis and even to clusters of interplanetary dust.
I'm insatiably curious - and something of a frustrated inventor," Dr. Zare says.
"The combination tends to lead me in a lot of directions. But everything I'm
interested in starts with chemistry, and it's all much more connected than
people expect."
A zealous proponent of a multidisciplinary approach, Dr. Zare adds,
"Unfortunately, life's most interesting mysteries don't tend to slot themselves
neatly into an academic discipline. What I want to understand is the origin of
life, the chemistry of the brain - or how we think in chemical terms - even to
fully comprehend the simplest chemical reaction. For this we need to use all
our knowledge and to create better analytical tools. If we can't measure it, it
isn't science."
An expert in combining theory with creative ways to apply those theories, Dr.
Zare is recognized for his pioneering work in experimental and theoretical
methodology. Applications range from determining the structures of transient
molecules and the distribution of energies between different degrees of freedom,
to the selection of specific states for reactivity and spectroscopy, and isotope
isolation in the gas phase.
Dr. Zare has been an important player in molecular reaction dynamics since the
field's inception in the 1960s, starting with his seminal Ph.D. thesis which
laid the groundwork that still underlies most studies of the dynamics of
photodissociation reactions. He first presented the theory of how pulses of
light could break a molecule apart in ways that would help define its shape and
orientation. Later, once lasers were introduced, he pioneered putting the
theory into practice. This, and his subsequent work, greatly expanded what we
know and can learn about influences on elementary reactions.
Dr. Zare received his bachelor's in chemistry and physics from Harvard in 1961,
as well as his doctorate in chemical physics in 1964. He served on the faculty
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Colorado
before accepting a professorship at Columbia University in 1969. In 1977, he
moved to Stanford.
Among his many honors are the Distinguished Service Award from the National
Science Board, Harvard University's Centennial Medal, California Scientist of
the Year 1997, NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award, National Academy
of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences, the ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry,
the Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry, the Irving Langmuir Prize and the
National Medal of Science.
Dr. Zare has been given honorary degrees, by the Eidengenössiche Technische
Hochschule Zürich, Northwestern University and the University of Arizona, and
will receive another from Columbia University next week.
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical
Society and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Zare
also is the recipient of Stanford's two most prestigious teaching awards.
He has served the scientific community and the nation on a number of boards,
commissions, panels and editorial boards, including as chair of the National
Science Board, member of the Council of the National Academy of Sciences, and
chair of the Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Applications of
the National Research Council. He has presented more than 80 named lectures at
universities throughout the world and authored more than 600 scientific papers,
books and chapters.
The international Welch Award in Chemistry has been given by The Welch
Foundation since 1972 to honor lifetime achievements in the field. Based in
Houston, The Welch Foundation is one of the nation's oldest and largest
continuing sources of private funding for basic chemical research.
Since its inception in 1954 with a bequest by oilman Robert Alonzo Welch, the
Foundation has awarded more than $381 million in research grants to support
greater understanding of chemistry. Dr. Zare will be honored and presented with
a $300,000 prize and gold medallion during the Foundation's annual award banquet
held in Houston in October.
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