In Memory of John Anthony Osborn

✍ Scribed by R. R. Schrock

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 61 KB
• Volume: 343
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1615-4150
• DOI: 10.1002/1615-4169(20010129)343:1<3::aid-adsc3>3.0.co;2-q

✦ Synopsis

In September of 1967 I found myself wandering down a hall in the Mallinckrodt building at Harvard University, having just begun my graduate education in chemistry. I also was wandering in a chemical sense, since I was more than a little uncertain to which type of chemistry I might be best suited. I passed a narrow laboratory that doubled as an office, in which sat John A. Osborn, a newly appointed assistant professor. I entered and we talked. John told me about transition metals, about catalysis, about the excitement of creating new compounds, and about creating them for a purpose. At this point it became clear to me that transition metal catalysis was an area I might enjoy.