Marcus, R. A. 1923-

Biography

Chemist Rudolph A. Marcus received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1992 for "his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems." The Marcus theory sheds light on diverse and fundamental phenomena such as photosynthesis and cell metabolism, and serves as the basis for all subsequent theoretical developments in the field of chemical reaction rates.

Marcus was born in Montreal, Canada on July 21, 1923. He received his B.Sc. in chemistry from McGill University in 1943. Upon receiving his Ph.D. from McGill University in 1946, he was accepted to the postdoctoral program at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa, conducting experimental research with E.W.R. Steacie on gas phase reactions. In 1949 he became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina, conducting theoretical research with O.K. Rice, formulating the RRKM theory [Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus] of unimolecular reactions.

In 1951 he joined the faculty of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and subsequently developed the theory of electron transfer reactions in solutions and at various interfaces. In 1964 he became Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Illinois and was later head of its Division of Physical Chemistry. Marcus joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology in 1978 as Noyes Professor of Chemistry, a position he has held since then.

Marcus's research has covered a variety of other areas in physical chemistry, including reaction coordinates and Hamiltonians, semi-classical theory of collisions and of bound states, intramolecular dynamics, and nuclear tunneling paths in reactions.

Throughout his scientific career, Marcus managed to be active in a variety of societies and professional organizations. He served as a member and then as chairman of the National Research Council–National Academy of Sciences Committee on Kinetics of Chemical Reactions (1973-1977), and as a member and co-chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1979-1984). He also served as a member of the Presidential Chairs Committee, Republic of Chile, during 1994-1996, and as an advisor to the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1995.

Marcus has received numerous honors in addition to the Nobel Prize. These include the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1985), the National Medal of Science (1989), the Joseph Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry (1993), and various American Chemical Society awards such as: Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics (1978), Gibbs Medal (1988), Richards Medal (1990), Linus Pauling Award (1991), Remsen Award (1991), the Edgar Fahs Smith Award (1991), and many others. He is also the recipient of a number of honorary degrees of Doctor of Science from several U.S. universities and foreign universities as well.

Marcus's work has been recognized with his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1970 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1973. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society since 1990, and a member of its Council since 1999. He is an honorary member of the International Society of Electrochemistry (1994), a foreign member of the Royal Society of London (1987), a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1998), a foreign fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1993), and an honorary member of the Korean Chemical Society (1996).

From the guide to the R.A. Marcus Papers, 1951-2001, (California Institute of Technology. Caltech Archives)