Tobin Marks Honored Twice at the Technical University of Munich

Northwestern University chemist Tobin J. Marks, a world leader in the fields of organometallic chemistry, chemical catalysis, materials science, organic electronics, solar energy, photovoltaics and nanotechnology, has received two major honors from the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

He was awarded the Wilhelm Manchot Prize and the TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professorship at ceremonies held last week at the Technical University of Munich, known as the "German MIT."

Marks is Vladimir N. Ipatieff Research Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern.

The Wilhelm Manchot Foundation of Germany awards the Wilhelm Manchot Prize annually to a famous chemist. The Technical University of Munich annually honors a famous scientist or engineer with the TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professorship. Marks is only the second chemist to receive the professorship award; he is expected to visit the TUM regularly.

Marks has developed processes for numerous types of recyclable, environmentally friendly plastics, efficient organic displays and transistor circuitry, and organic solar energy cells. He is a leader in the development and understanding of single-site olefin polymerization catalysis (now a multibillion-dollar industry) as well as in the study of new materials having remarkable electrical, mechanical, interfacial and photonic properties.

Among his other recent honors are the 2010 Nichols Medal from the American Chemical Society, the 2009 Von Hippel Award from the Materials Research Society, the 2009 Nelson W. Taylor Award from the Pennsylvania State University, the 2009 Herman Pines Award from the Chicago Catalysis Society and the U.S. National Medal of Science. In 2009 he was named a Fellow of the Materials Research Society.

- Megan Fellman