Professor Alan MacDiarmid, 1927-2007

 

Alan G. MacDiarmid, 79, one of three scientists who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry for the discovery of polymers that conducted electricity, died Wednesday 7 February of injuries following a fall at home. He had been rushing to catch a plane to fly to his native New Zealand. Characteristically, he was active in research to the end.

 

Alan was Blanchard Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania since 1955. He shared the 2000 Nobel Prize "for the discovery and development of conductive polymers" with Alan J. Heeger, now at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Professor Hideki Shirakawa, now retired from the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The discovery reflected Alan's inquisitive mind, enthusiasm for exploring new research avenues, and congenial personality that facilitated working on projects that required interdisciplinary efforts.

 

Alan had first seen films of polyacetylene during a visit to Professor Shirakawa's laboratory in Japan in 1975. He invited Professor Shirakawa to visit Penn so as to learn more about the films that had a remarkable metallic appearance. Within a year, a jointly authored paper appeared that reported a 10,000,000 times increase in conductivity of polyacetylene by partial oxidation with iodine. This paper and subsequent work on conducting polymers was the basis for the Nobel Prize. Among many other awards, Alan received the ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials in 1999 and the 2002 ACS Nichols Medal Award.

 

Alan was born in Masterton, New Zealand. In reminiscing, he noted that he had not worn a pair of shoes until he was about 9 years old. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of New Zealand and doctorates from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Cambridge in England. Alan authored or co-authored 600 research papers and held more than 30 patents. His work in conducting polymers was in some ways a "second career". He was previously active in organosilicon chemistry and won the ACS Frederic Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry in 1971.

 

Alan had a larger-than-life life. He was not only a chaired professor at Penn, but was James Von Ehr Chair of Science and Technology, Professor of Chemistry and Physics, at the University of Texas at Dallas. He held a professorship at Jilin University in Changchun, China.

 

Many will remember Alan for his warm personality and his exceptional enthusiasm for ... well, everything ... but especially for research ... and for life. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. March 2 on the Penn campus at Irvine Auditorium, 34th and Spruce Streets.

 

Conveyed by Professor Kenneth Wynne