Nobel Laureate Prof. Richard R. Schrock to Visit TU Dortmund University

Through his work, Prof. Richard R. Schrock impressively demonstrates how an idea from basic research can evolve into a technology that, decades later, makes industrial chemistry more sustainable. In his Initial Spark lecture, he will recount his extraordinary scientific and personal journey. Prof. Schrock will focus on his development of olefin metathesis, a catalytic technology that allows carbon-carbon bonds to be rearranged selectively. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005 for this groundbreaking research.

His story impressively demonstrates the impact that long-term, excellent basic research can have: What once began in the laboratory is now being implemented on an industrial scale in Germany for the first time. The biofuel company VERBIO is commissioning a globally unique plant in Bitterfeld that uses Schrock’s Nobel Prize-winning technology to produce renewable chemicals from rapeseed oil methyl ester for industrial use. That is why, one week after the Initial Spark lecture, he is going to be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony in Bitterfeld.

We owe it to Dr. Thomas Seidensticker from the Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering that we were able to secure Richard R. Schrock, who has been at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1975, for the Initial Spark lecture. He invited the Nobel Prize laureate as the keynote speaker for a conference of the German Chemical Society, which will take place at TU Dortmund University in early October.

The Initial Spark lecture series offers the opportunity to hear from a Nobel laureate and learn how scientific curiosity, perseverance, and innovative research can lead to concrete solutions for a more sustainable future. The lecture, titled “My Unlikely Journey to the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Beyond,” will be followed by a panel discussion.

The event will be conducted primarily in English. Registration is requested.

Registration

Initial Spark series

As part of the Initial Spark series, supported by the Wilo Foundation, Nobel Prize-winning scientists from around the world are invited to TU Dortmund University. Guests to date have included Prof. Frances Arnold (2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Prof. Erwin Neher (1991 Nobel Prize in Medicine), Prof. Benjamin List (2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Prof. Reinhard Genzel (2020 Nobel Prize in Physics), Dr. Irina Scherbakova (2022 Nobel Peace Prize for the human rights organization Memorial), Prof. Klaus von Klitzing (1985 Nobel Prize in Physics), and Prof. Stefan W. Hell (2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry).

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