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George Andrew Olah

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George Andrew Olah
George Andrew Olah speaking in 2009
Born
Oláh György

(1927-05-22)May 22, 1927
Budapest, Hungary
DiedMarch 8, 2017(2017-03-08) (aged 89)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
CitizenshipHungarian and American
Alma materBudapest University of Technology and Economics
Known forCarbocations via superacids
Spouse
Judith Lengyel
​
(m. 1949)​
Children2
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
Institutions

George Andrew Olah (born Oláh György; May 22, 1927 – March 8, 2017) was a Hungarian and American chemist. His research involved the generation and reactivity of carbocations via superacids. For this research, Olah was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1994 "for his contribution to carbocation chemistry."[3] He was also awarded the Priestley Medal, the highest honor granted by the American Chemical Society and F.A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research of the American Chemical Society in 1996.[4][5][6] According to György Marx he was one of The Martians.[7]

Early life and education

Olah was born in Budapest, Hungary, on May 22, 1927, to a Jewish couple, Magda (Krasznai) and Gyula Oláh, a lawyer.[8][9] After the high school of Budapesti Piarista Gimnazium (Scolopi fathers), he studied under organic chemist Géza Zemplén at the Technical University of Budapest, now the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, where he earned M.S. and Ph.D degrees in Chemical Engineering.[10] From 1949 through 1954, he taught at the school as a professor of organic chemistry.[11] In the subsequent two years, from 1954–1956, he worked at the Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he was Associate Scientific Director and Head of the Department of Organic Chemistry.[11]

Career and research

As a result of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he and his family moved briefly to England and then to Canada, where he joined Dow Chemical in Sarnia, Ontario, with another Hungarian chemist, Stephen J. Kuhn. Olah's pioneering work on carbocations started during his eight years with Dow.[12] In 1965, he returned to academia at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, chairing the Department of Chemistry from 1965 to 1969, and from 1967 through 1977 he was the C. F. Maybery Distinguished Professor of Research in Chemistry.[11] In 1971, Olah became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[10] He then moved to the University of Southern California in 1977.[10]

At USC, Olah was a distinguished professor and the director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute.[13] Starting in 1980, he served as the Distinguished Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of Chemistry and later became a distinguished professor in USC's School of Engineering.[10] In 1994, Olah was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contribution to carbocation chemistry".[14] In particular, Olah's search for stable nonclassical carbocations led to the discovery of protonated methane stabilized by superacids, like FSO3H-SbF5 ("Magic Acid").

CH4 + H+ → CH5+

Because these cations were able to be stabilized, scientists could now use infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study them in greater depth, as well as use them as catalysts in organic synthesis reactions.[15]

Olah, with Canadian chemist Saul Winstein, was also involved in a career-long battle with Herbert C. Brown of Purdue over the existence of so-called "nonclassical" carbocations – such as the norbornyl cation, which can be depicted as cationic character delocalized over several bonds.[16] Olah's studies of the cation with NMR spectroscopy provided more evidence suggesting that Winstein's model of the non-classical cation, "featuring a pair of [delocalized] electrons smeared between three carbon atoms," was correct.[17]

In 1997, the Olah family formed an endowment fund (the George A. Olah Endowment) which grants annual awards to outstanding chemists, including the George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry, formerly known as the ACS Award in Petroleum Chemistry. The awards are selected and administered by the American Chemical Society.[18]

Later in his career, his research shifted from hydrocarbons and their transformation into fuel to the methanol economy, namely generating methanol from methane.[19] He joined with Robert Zubrin, Anne Korin, and James Woolsey in promoting a flexible-fuel mandate initiative.[20][21][22] In 2005, Olah wrote an essay promoting the methanol economy in which he suggested that methanol could be produced from hydrogen gas (H2) and industrially derived or atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), using energy from renewable sources to power the production process.[23]

Personal life

He married Judith Agnes Lengyel in 1949, and they had two children, George, born in Hungary in 1954, and Ronald, born in the U.S. in 1959.[10] Olah died on March 8, 2017, at his home in Beverly Hills, California.[24][25] After his death, the Hungarian government said that the "country has lost a great patriot and one of the most outstanding figures of Hungarian scientific life."[24]

Awards and honours

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Professor George Olah ForMemRS Foreign Member". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2015-10-05.
  2. ^ "George A. Olah – A Superstar of Science". Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1994". The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  4. ^ George A. Olah (2000). A Life Of Magic Chemistry: Autobiographical Reflections of a Nobel Prize Winner. Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 978-0-471-15743-4.
  5. ^ "Exploring the Methanol Economy". Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  6. ^ My Search for Carbocations and Their Role in Chemistry Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1994 by George A. Olah
  7. ^ A marslakók legendája - György Marx
  8. ^ GEORGE OLÁH, NOBEL PRIZE WINNING HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN CHEMIST, DIES AT 89 Archived 2017-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, Hungary Today, March 9, 2017
  9. ^ "George A. Olah – Biographical". Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  10. ^ a b c d e Mathew, Thomas; George Andrew Olah (2015-04-24). "Curriculum Vitae of George Andrew Olah". A Life of Magic Chemistry: Autobiographical Reflections Including Post-Nobel Prize Years and the Methanol Economy. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 300–305. doi:10.1002/9781118840108.oth. ISBN 978-1-118-84010-8.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "1991 George Olah, USC". Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society. 1992. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  12. ^ George A. Olah (1965). Friedel-Crafts and Related Reactions. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
  13. ^ "Department of Chemistry". Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  14. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1994". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  15. ^ Stoye, Emma (2017-03-10). "Chemistry Nobel laureate George Olah dies aged 89". Chemistry World. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  16. ^ "The Non-classical Cation: A Classic Case of Conflict". UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry. 2013-07-11. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  17. ^ Peplow, Mark (2013-07-10). "The nonclassical cation: a classic case of conflict". Chemistry World. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  18. ^ "George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry", Chemical & Engineering News, January 19, 2009, p. 74
  19. ^ "Nobel Prize winner of 1994 George Andrew Olah dies at 89". Chem Europe. 2017-03-10. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  20. ^ Olah, G. "Superacid Catalyzed Depolymerization and Conversion of Coals. Final Technical Report. [HF:BF{sub 2}/H{sub 2}]", University of Southern California, United States Department of Energy, (1980).
  21. ^ Olah, G. A. "Superacid Catalyzed Coal Conversion Chemistry. 1st and 2nd Quarterly Technical Progress Reports, September 1, 1983 – March 30, 1984.", University of Southern California, United States Department of Energy, (1984).
  22. ^ Olah, G. A. "Superacid Catalyzed Coal Conversion Chemistry. Final Technical Report, September 1, 1983 – September 1, 1986.", University of Southern California, United States Department of Energy, (1986).
  23. ^ George A. Olah (2005). "Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 44 (18): 2636–2639. doi:10.1002/anie.200462121. PMID 15800867.
  24. ^ a b Rogers, John (2017-03-09). "George A. Olah, who won Nobel Prize in chemistry, dies at 89". ABC. Archived from the original on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  25. ^ "Hungarian-American Nobel winner George A. Olah dies aged 89". Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  26. ^ "Chemical Pioneer Award". American Institute of Chemists. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  27. ^ "F.A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research- PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  28. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  • George Andrew Olah on Nobelprize.org Edit this at Wikidata including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1994 My Search for Carbocations and Their Role in Chemistry
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