Jack Halpern
Chemist, scholar
Born Jan. 19, 1925, Czarnoruda, Poland; came to U.S., 1962; son of Philip and Anna (Sass); married Helen (Peritz); children: Janice Henry, Nina.
Education: Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) (in chemistry), 1946, Ph.D., 1949, McGill University, Montreal (Canada); Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) (honorary), University of British Columbia (Canada), 1986.
Career: postdoctoral fellow, University of Manchester (United Kingdom), 1949-50; instructor, 1950-62, prof., 1960-62, University of British Columbia; prof. (chemistry), 1962-84, Louis Block Distinguished Service Prof., 1984 -, University of Chicago (IL); visiting prof., University of Minnesota, 1960, Harvard University, Boston (MA), 1966-67, 1991, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 1969, Princeton U. (NJ), 1970-71, Max-Planck-Institut fur Kohienforshung, Mulheim (Ger.), 1977, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), 1978; external science member, Harvard University, 1966-67, 1991, Max-Planck-Institut fur Kohlenforshung, 1983 -.
Author: over 260 scientific publications on kinetics and mechanism of inorganic reactions, coordination chemistry, organometallic chemistry, catalytic phenomena, bioinorganic chemistry; editorial boards member i.a.: Inorganica Chemica Acta (associate editor), Journal of American Chemical Society, Journal of Coordination Chemistry, Inorganic Syntheses, Oxford University Press International Series of Monographs on Chemistry (co-editor), Gazzetta Chimica Italiana, Catalysis Letters, Reaction Kinetics and Catalysis Letters, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; numerous lectures i.a.: University of Minnesota, Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley, Case Western Res.erve University (OH), Texas A & M University, University of Western Ontario (Canada), University of New Brunswick (Canada), University of Sheffield (United Kingdom), University of Ottawa (Canada), Harvard University, University of Notre Dame (IN).
Member of, i.a.: Waterman Award Committee member, National Science Foundation (NSF), 1990-93; active member, American Chemical Society; consultant, Argonne National Laboratory; chemical visiting committee member, California Institute of Technology; advisory committee member, Encyclopedia Britannica; vice president, National Academy of Sciences.
Honors, i.a.: Ann Molson Prize, McGill University, 1949; fellow, Chemistry Institute of Canada, 1955, Nuffield Foundation, 1959-60, A. P. Sloan Foundation, 1959-63, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1966, New York Academy of Sciences, 1969, Royal Society of London, 1974, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), 1977, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, 1981; Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar, California Institute of Technology, 1979; guest scholar, Kyoto University (Jap.), 1981; Distinguished Service award for the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry, American Chemical Society, 1985; Villard Gibbs medal, 1986; honorary fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, 1987; August Wilhelm von Hofmann medal, German Chemical Society, 1988; Chemistry Pioneer award, American Institute of Chemists, 1991; Paracelsus Prize, Swiss Chemical Society, 1992; Robert A. Welch award, 1994; award in organometalic chemistry, American Chemical Society, 1994.
Languages: English, French, German.
Office: The University of Chicago, 5735 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637.
From: "Who's Who in Polish America" 1st Edition 1996-1997, Boleslaw Wierzbianski editor; Bicentennial Publishing Corporation, New York, NY, 1996