Henry Taube

Henry Taube
Born(1915-11-30)November 30, 1915
DiedNovember 16, 2005(2005-11-16) (aged 89)
NationalityCanadian
American
Alma materUniversity of Saskatchewan (BSc, 1935; MSc, 1937)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD) (1940)
Known forInner sphere electron transfer
AwardsWilliam 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
FieldsChemistry
InstitutionsCornell University, University of Chicago, Stanford University
ThesisThe interaction of ozone and hydrogen peroxide (1940)
Doctoral advisorWilliam Crowell Bray
Doctoral studentsHarold 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.

  1. ^ "Press Release: The 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry". NobelPrize.org The Official Website of the Nobel Prize. Retrieved August 30, 2010.