MIT’s Newest Nobel Laureate by Bryan

So it’s Nobel Prize week, and this year, MIT has been able to add another name to it’s list of professors, affiliates, and alumni who have won Nobel Prizes.

This year’s Chemistry Nobel Prize has gone to Yves Chauvin, Robert Grubbs, and Professor Richard Schrock.

Professor Schrock won the Nobel prize for his “for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis.”

Courtesy of the MIT News Office:

Schrock was cited by the Nobel committee for being the first to produce an efficient metal-compound catalyst for metathesis–a chemical process wherein two reacting structures swap places–in 1990.

Now I don’t know about you, but I think this is pretty cool. What’s even cooler is that these professors actually teach undergrads, including freshmen. Freshman year, my friend Sharmeen took 8.012 and her TA was Frank Wilczek, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004. This year, one of the TA’s for that class is Wolfgang Ketterle, winner of the Nobel Prize in 2001.

I think I would have asked them to autograph my problem set.

Now to see if they want a guest spot on my blog.

More on:
Professor Schrock and his research
Other MIT Nobel Laureates

EDIT: Matt mentioned there was a lecture in 10-250 by Prof. Schrock. I hustled over to the crowded lecture hall to find no seats, but in all the hustle and bustle, I actually BUMPED into Prof. Schrock. I was star-struck.