Ben Feringa
Short biography
Ben L. Feringa obtained his PhD degree at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands under the guidance of Professor Hans Wynberg. After working as a research scientist at Shell in the Netherlands and at the Shell Biosciences Centre in the UK, he was appointed lecturer and in 1988 full professor at the University of Groningen and named the Jacobus H. van't Hoff Distinguished Professor of Molecular Sciences in 2004. He was elected Foreign Honory member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is member and vice-president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. In 2008 he was appointed Academy Professor and was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands.
Feringa's research has been recognized with a number of awards including the Koerber European Science Award (2003), the Spinoza Award (2004), the Prelog gold medal (2005), the Norrish Award of the ACS (2007), the Paracelsus medal (2008), the Chirality medal (2009),the RSC Organic Stereochemistry Award (2011), Humboldt Award (2012), the Grand Prix Scientifique Cino del Duca (French Academy 2012), the Marie Curie medal (2013) and the Nagoya Gold Medal (2013). The research interest includes stereochemistry, organic synthesis, asymmetric catalysis, optopharma, molecular switches and motors, self-assembly and molecular nanosystems.
Academic and industrial career
| 1969-1978 | Undergraduate and graduate studies in chemistry, University of Groningen | |
| PhD at Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Groningen, Thesis: Asymmetric Oxidations of Phenols; supervisor Prof. Dr. Hans Wynberg | ||
| 1978-1982 | Research Chemist (organic synthesis, oxidation processes, photochemistry), Royal Dutch Shell, Shell Laboratories, Amsterdam. | |
| 1979-1982 | Lecturer Amsterdam (Hogere Analistenschool). | |
| 1982-1983 | Research Chemist (Bioorganic Chemistry), Shell Biosciences Laboratories, Sittingbourne, UK. | |
| 1983-1984 | Project Leader Homogeneous Catalysis, Shell Research Laboratories, Amsterdam. | |
| 1984-1988 | Lecturer Organic Chemistry, University of Groningen. | |
| 1988- | Appointed successor of Prof. Dr. H. Wynberg; chair of Organic Chemistry, Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of Groningen. | |
| 1991-1995 | Chairman Department Organic and Molecular Inorganic Chemistry | |
| 2003-2011 | Director Stratingh Institute for Chemistry | |
| 2003- | Jacobus H. van 't Hoff Distinguished Professor of Molecular Sciences | |
| 2008- | Academy Professor; Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences | |
| 2011- | Hans Fischer Honorary Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies, TU Muenchen |