Biography

Jean-Marie Lehn was born in Rosheim, France in 1939. In 1970 he became Professor of Chemistry at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg and from 1979 to 2010 he was Professor at the Collège de France in Paris. He is presently Professor at the University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study (USIAS). He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987 for his studies on the chemical basis of “molecular recognition” (i.e. the way in which a receptor molecule recognizes and selectively binds a substrate), which also plays a fundamental role in biological processes.

Over the years his work led him to the definition of a new field of chemistry, which he has proposed calling “supramolecular chemistry” as it deals with the complex entities formed by the association of two or more chemical species held together by non-covalent intermolecular forces, whereas molecular chemistry concerns the entities constructed from atoms linked by covalent bonds. Subsequently, the area developed into the chemistry of "self-organization" processes and more recently towards "adaptive chemistry", dynamic networks and complex systems.

Author of more than 950 scientific publications, Lehn is a member of many academies and institutions. He has received numerous international honours and awards.

Education

Undergraduate Studies, University of Strasbourg: Licence ès-Sciences (Bachelor of Sciences), Strasbourg, 1960

Graduate work on "Conformational Studies of Triperpenes"; with Professor Guy Ourisson, University of Strasbourg

Doctorat-ès-Sciences (Ph.D.), University of Strasbourg, 1963

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University, 1964: work on vitamin B₁₂ total synthesis with Professor
Robert B Woodward

Appointments

• Member of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 1960-66
• Maître de Conférences (Assistant Professor) at the University of Strasbourg, 1966-69
• Professeur sans chaire (Associate Professor) at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, 1970
• Professor of Chemistry at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, 1970-1979
• Professor at Collège de France, Paris, since October 23rd 1979; Chair of Chimie des Interactions Moléculaires
• Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University, 1972 (Spring), 1974 (Spring), and on a part time basis until 1980
• Visiting Professor of Chemistry at the E.T.H. Zürich, 1977
• Alexander Todd Visiting Professor of Chemistry, Cambridge University, 1984
• Visiting Professor, University of Barcelona, 1985
• Rolf-Sammet Gastprofessor, Frankfurt University, 1985-86
• Heinrich-Hertz Gastprofessor, Karlsruhe University, Nov., Dec. 1989
• Robert Burns Woodward Visiting Professor, Harvard University, 1997, 2000
• Newton Abraham Professor, Lincoln College, Oxford University, 1999-2000
• Adjunct Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, 2005

Honorary Degrees

• Honoris Causa Doctorates
• Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1984
• Universidad Autonoma, Madrid, 1985
• Georg-August University of Göttingen, 1987
• Université Libre of Bruxelles, 1987
• Iraklion University, 1989
• Università degli Studi di Bologna, 1989
• Charles University of Prague, 1990
• University of Sheffield, 1991
• University of Twente, 1991
• University of Athens 1992
• Polytechnical University of Athens, 1992
• Illinois Wesleyan University, 1995
• Université de Montréal, 1995
• University of Bielefeld, 1998
• Honorary Professor, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 1998
• Honorary Professor, Southeast University, Nanjing, 1998
• Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot; 1998
• Faculté des Sciences Appliquées, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1999
• Nagoya University, 2000
• Université de Sherbrooke, 2000
• Università di Trieste, 2001
• Honorary Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2003
• Honorary Professor, Nanjing University, 2003
• Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2003
• University of St. Andrews, 2004
• Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, 2005
• Technical University, St Petersburg, 2005
• Mazaryk University, Brno, 2005
• Honorary Professor, Beijing University, 2005
• Kyushu University, 2005

Awards

• Bronze Medal of the CNRS, 1963
• Adrian Prize of the Société Chimique de France, 1968
• Silver Medal of the CNRS, 1972
• Raymond Berr Prize of the Société Chimique de France, 1978
• Gold Medal of the Académie Pontificale des Sciences, 1981
• Gold Medal of the CNRS, 1981
• Pierre Bruylants Medal, Louvain, 1981
• Paracelsus Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society, 1982
• Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis, 1983
• Prize of the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique awarded by the Académie des Sciences, 1984
• Rolf-Sammet Prize, Frankfurt University, 1985
• Prize of the Fondation Alsace, 1986
• George Kenner Prize, University of Liverpool, 1987
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1987
• Sigillum Magnum, University of Bologna, 1988
• Minnie Rosen Award, 1989
• Vermeil Medal of the Ville de Paris, 1989
• Gold Medal of the Société d'Encouragement au Progrès, 1989
• Karl-Ziegler Prize, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 1989
• Grand Bretzel d’Or, Institut des Arts et Traditions Populaires d’Alsace, 1992
• Bonner Chemiepreis, 1993
• 1992 "Ettore Majorana-Erice-Science for Peace" Prize, 1994
• Gold Medal of the Société Académique Arts–Sciences–Lettres, 1995
• Gold Medal of Comenius University, Bratislava, 1995
• Golden Memorial Medal of the Faculty of Sciences, Charles University, Prague, 1995
• Honorary Medal of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, 1996
• The Davy Medal of the Royal Society, 1997
• Lavoisier Medal 1997 of the Société Française de Chimie
• Top 75 Award, C&N, American Chemical Society, 1998
• Allan R. Day Award of the Philadelphia Organic Chemists' Club, 1998
• 1998 Messel Medal, Society of Chemical Industry, London
• Premio Barocco, 2003
• Gold Medal "Giulio Natta" of the Italian Chemical Society, 2003
• JSPS Award (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), 2003
• Gold Medal of the 70th Anniversary of the Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, 2004
• Gold Medal of the University Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, 2005