2019

Professor Frances Arnold

2018 Nobel Laureate

California Institute of Technology

Innovation by Evolution: Bringing New Chemistry to Life

2018

Professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski

Carnegie Mellon University

Macromolecular Engineering by Taming Free Radicals

2017

Professor Sir Christopher Dobson

University of Cambridge

The Amyloid State of Proteins and its Significance in Biology and Medicine

2016

Professor Arieh Warshel

2013 Nobel Laureate

University of Southern California

Modeling the action of complex biological systems on a molecular level

2015

Professor Samir Zard

Ecole Polytechnique

Fun with Radicals. A Matter of Lifetime

2014

Professor Dame Carol Robinson

University of Oxford

Membranes, Micelles and Motors – Maintaining the Momentum

2013

Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart

2016 Nobel Laureate

Northwestern University

New Twists and Turns in Radical Organic Chemistry

2012

Professor Dan Shechtman

2011 Nobel Laureate

Technion, Haifa

The Discovery of Quasi-periodic Materials. A Paradigm Change in Crystallography

2011

Professor Barry Trost

Stanford University

On the Invention of Pd Catalyzed Reactions for Enabling Chemical Synthesis

2010

Professor Steven Ley

University of Cambridge

New Tools for Molecule Makers

2009

Professor Daniel G. Nocera

Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Powering the planet: the challenge for science in the 21st century

2008

Professor Thomas A. Steitz

2009 Nobel Laureate

Yale University, Bass Center for Molecular and Structural Biology

The structural basis of the function of the ribosome and its large subunit, a major antibiotic target

2007

Professor Richard R. Schrock

2005 Nobel Laureate

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Discovery and Development of Alkene and Alkyne Metathesis Reactions

2006

Professor Michael Graetzel

Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne, Switzerland

Light and energy, mimicking natural photosynthesis

2005

Professor Roger Tsien

2008 Nobel Laureate

University of California, San Diego

Building and breeding molecules to spy on cells and tumors

2004

Professor Robert H Grubbs
2005 Nobel Laureate

Victor & Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry, Caltech

Ruthenium-based catalysts for olefin metathesis

2003

Professor Sir Harry Kroto
1999 Nobel Laureate

University of Sussex

2010, a nanospace odyssey

2002

Professor Peter G Schultz

Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla

Expanding the genetic code

2000

Professor David A Evans

Harvard University

Asymmetric catalysis with chiral metal complexes

1999

Professor Hubert Schmidbaur

Technische Universität München

Gold chemistry: from alchemy to relativity and back

1998

Professor Arthur Kornberg
1959 Nobel Laureate

Stanford University School of Medicine

Science and medicine at the millennium

1997

Professor Peter Day

The Royal Institution of Great Britain

What is a material?

1996

Professor Jean-Marie Lehn
1987 Nobel Laureate

Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg and College de France, Paris

Supramolecular chemistry: concepts and perspectives

1995

Professor Robert G Bergman

University of California, Berkeley

Activation of hydrocarbons with transition metal compounds

1994

Professor John S Rowlinson

Oxford University, UK

Entropy and Information

1993

Professor Alex Pines

University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

Some magnetic moments

1992

Professor Sir John M Thomas FRS

Formerly Director, Royal Institution London, Deputy Pro Chancellor, University of Wales

New catalysts for a clean environment

1991

Professor Jeremy Knowles

Harvard University

Enzyme catalysists: not different, just better

1990

Professor Ryoji Noyori
2001 Nobel Laureate

Nagoya University

Asymmetric catalysis: science and opportunities

1989

Professor J D Dunitz

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich

Chemical reaction paths from crystal structure data

1988

No lecture

1987

Professor Gilbert Stork

Columbia University, New York

Radical cyclisation in natural product synthesis

1986

Professor Roald Hoffmann
1981 Nobel Laureate

Building bridges between organic and inorganic chemistry

1985

Professor Rudolph A Marcus
1992 Nobel Laureate

California Institute of Technology

Electron transfer reactions: theory and experiment

1984

Professor Elias J Corey
1990 Nobel Laureate

Harvard University

Total synthesis of biologically active molecules

1983

Professor Henry Taube
1983 Nobel Laureate

Stanford University

Back bonding as it affects reactivity

1982

Professor J A Pople
1998 Nobel Laureate

Carnegie-Mellon University

Obital theory, structure and reactivity

1981

Professor A Eschenmoser

Eidgenössische technische hochschule, Zürich

Organic synthesis and the origin of natural products