The Olah Lecture
George A. Olah was a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Founding Director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He received the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (unshared) for his contribution to carbocation and hydrocarbon chemistry. His later work focused on the “methanol economy”, where methanol and dimethyl ether are used as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Olah was born in Budapest, Hungary. He earned his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Budapest. In 1957, he worked for the Dow Chemical Company. In 1965, he became Professor of Chemistry at Case Western Reserve University and in 1977, he joined the University of Southern California.
Dr. Olah authored or edited some 24 books and published close to 1500 scientific papers. He held more than 190 patents. He has received many awards and recognitions, including 12 honorary degrees from various universities and were elected a member (or foreign member) of some 20 National Academies and Scientific Societies.
George A. Olah passed away on March 8, 2017 at his home in Beverly Hills, California. He was 89.
2023 – Karl O. Christe, University of Southern California
2019 – Harry Gray, California Institute of Technology
2018 – Ben Feringa, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
2017 – Frances H. Arnold, California Institute of Technology
2016 – Jan-Erling Bäckvall, Stockholm University, Sweden
2015 – Chad Mirkin, Northwestern University
2014 – Arieh Warshel, University of Southern California
2013 – Herbert Mayr, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
2011 – Kendall N. Houk, University of California, Los Angeles
2010 – Helmut Schwarz, Technische Universität Berlin
2009 – K. Barry Sharpless, The Scripps Research Institute
2008 – Robert Grubbs, California Institute of Technology
2006 – G. K. Surya Prakash, University of Southern California
2005 – Kyriacos C. Nicolaou, The Scripps Research Institute
2004 – Peter J. Stang, The University of Utah
2003 – Paul von Ragué Schleyer, University of Georgia
2002 – F. Albert Cotton, Texas A&M University
2001 – Ryoji Noyori, Nagoya University
2000 – Gabor Somorjai, University of California, Berkeley
1999 – Ivar Ugi, Technical University of Munich
1996 – Istvan Hargittai, Budapest Technical University