In honor of Prof. Richard (Dick) R. Schrock on the occasion of his 60th birthday

Abstract

Richard Schrock was born on January 4, 1945 in Berne, Indiana, a small town in themid-west of theUSA settled by Swiss in the mid-nineteenth century. He obtained his B. A. degree in 1967 from theUniversity of California at Riverside andhis Ph.D. degree fromHarvardUniversity in 1971 under the supervision of John Osborn. From 1971–1972, he was an NSF postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University under the supervision of Lord Jack Lewis, followed by three years at the Central Research and Development Department of E. I. duPont de Nemours and Co. There he discovered a new carbene, Ta(1⁄4CHCMe3)(CH2CMe)3)2 (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1974, 96, 6797), the first representative of a new class of compounds, which was soon named after him. In 1975 he moved toM. I. T.where hewas appointedFull Professor in 1980 and aFrederickG.Keyes Professor ofChemistry in 1989. His research interests are mainly focused on inorganic and organometallic chemistry of early high oxidation state metal complexes, their use in catalytic reactions such as nitrogen fixation, 1-alkene polymerization, all variations of metathesis reactions – ROMP, 1-alkyne polymerization, and cyclopolymerization – and asymmetric synthesis (in collaboration with the group of Prof. A. H. Hoveyda at Boston College). His contributions to all these fields of research have been of enormous significance. Recognized and honored by the scientific community, R. R. Schrock has received a large number of awards. He has been an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar. He has received the ACS Award in Organometallic Chemistry (1985), theHarrison Howe Award of the Rochester ACS section (1990), an Alexander von Humboldt Award (1995), the ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry (1996), the Bailar Medal from the University of Illinois (1998), an ACS Cope Scholar Award in 2001, and the Sir Geoffrey WilkinsonMedal in 2002. He has been elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He was Associate Editor ofOrganometallics for eight years, has published more than 420 research papers and has filed numerous patents. Personally, I had the privilege to be part of Dick Schrock s group as a postdoctoral fellow in 1994.During this time and ever since then, I have gotten to know him as great teacher, outstanding scientist, ambitious squash player, selfless advisor and friend.What remains is to deliver our best wishes on the occasion of his 60 birthday, not only from those who have contributed to this issue but also on behalf of all his former students (about 70), postdocs (also about 70) and friends. Dear Dick, the scientific community owes you a lot! May the next decades be continuously fruitful in terms of science and enjoyable in terms of life to both you and your family, i.e., your wife, Nancy, and your two sons,AndrewRichard andEricNoah.Admultos annos! The following articles are dedicated to you.