Dr. Robert H. Grubbs accepts Nobel Prize from His Majesty the King, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, December 10, 2005
On December 10, 2005, Robert Howard Grubbs was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Yves Chauvin and Richard R. Schrock. This Nobel Prize recognized Grubbs’ work in the development of the metathesis method of organic synthesis. “Metathesis is a chemical reaction in which atom groups break away and reform, “switching partners”. It is used in organic chemistry and pharmaceutical research, and Grubbs’ work has led to more efficient, simpler and more environmentally benign ways to synthesize medicines and plastics” (www.nndb.com/people).
Grubbs was born February 27, 1942, in Marshall County, Kentucky on a farm between Calvert City and Possum Trot, to Howard and Faye Grubbs. Both parents were from small farm families. Howard Grubbs moved his family to Paducah where Robert in due time graduated from Paducah Tilghman High School. Grubbs credits a junior high teacher with interesting him in science.
Grubbs earned his B.S. and M. A. in chemistry at the University of Florida, and his PhD in organic chemistry from Columbia University. He has been a professor at Michigan State University and is currently Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California institute of Technology. He is married and the father of three children.
Grubbs says “The academic model of my mother and grandmother and the very practical, mechanical training from my father turned out to be perfect training for organic chemical research”. His mother, Faye Grubbs, persevered for 28 years to earn her degree from Murray State while teaching school on a teaching certificate. She taught school for 35 years. His father attended night classes when he returned from WWII and became a diesel mechanic. Grubbs has two sisters, one a teacher and one who became the first female journeyman electrician in western Kentucky.
Even in a family that treasures intellectual achievement, being awarded the Nobel Prize must have earned Grubbs at least a well deserved pat on the back!
(This posting created using the following resources: More Profiles of Past – Paducah People, Volume 4, 2010, by Allan Rhodes, Sr. and John E. L. Robertson, Sr.; www.nobelprize.org, Les Prix Nobel, The Nobel Prizes 2005, Editor, Karl Grandin [Nobel Foundation] Stockholm, 2006; http://en.wikipedia.org; and www.nndb.com/people)