Henry Taube | |
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Born | Neudorf, Saskatchewan, Canada | November 30, 1915
Died | November 16, 2005 Palo Alto, California, U.S. | (aged 89)
Nationality | Canadian American |
Alma mater | University of Saskatchewan (BSc, 1935; MSc, 1937) University of California, Berkeley (PhD) (1940) |
Known for | Inner sphere electron transfer |
Awards | William H. Nichols Medal (1971) National Medal of Science (1976) Welch Award in Chemistry (1983) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1983) NAS Award in Chemical Sciences (1983) Priestley Medal (1985) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Chemistry |
Institutions | Cornell University, University of Chicago, Stanford University |
Thesis | The interaction of ozone and hydrogen peroxide (1940) |
Doctoral advisor | William Crowell Bray |
Doctoral students | Harold Friedman Robert A. Plane Maynard Olson |
Henry Taube FRSC (November 30, 1915 – November 16, 2005) was a Canadian-born American chemist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his work in the mechanisms of electron-transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes."[1] He was the second Canadian-born chemist to win the Nobel Prize, and remains the only Saskatchewanian-born Nobel laureate. Taube completed his undergraduate and master's degrees at the University of Saskatchewan, and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. After finishing graduate school, Taube worked at Cornell University, the University of Chicago and Stanford University.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Taube also received many other major scientific awards, including the Priestley Medal in 1985 and two Guggenheim Fellowships early in his career (1949 and 1955), as well as numerous honorary doctorates. His research focused on redox reactions, transition metals and the use of isotopically labeled compounds to follow reactions. He had over 600 publications including one book, and had mentored over 200 students during his career. Taube and his wife Mary had three children; his son Karl is an anthropologist at the University of California Riverside.