The Arthur Birch lecture
The aim of the visit of the Birch Lecturer is to enable eminent chemists to deliver a series of lectures on their research and to interact with School students and staff.
The Award was established in 1981 in honour of Arthur J. Birch, MSc (Sydney & Manchester), DPhil (Oxon), FRIC, FRACI, FAA, FRS, to pay tribute to his extensive contributions to the Research School of Chemistry from its founding in 1967. The Birch (and Craig) Lectures are highlights in the School's calendar year.
The aim of the visit of the Birch Lecturer is to enable eminent chemists to deliver a series of lectures on their research and to interact with School students and staff.
Birch Lecturers are chemists who are at the peak of their international career. The accompanying list of former lecturers is testament to the superb quality of honoraries who have visited the Research School, fifteen of whom are Nobel Laureates.
The program for the Birch Lecturer will normally include the Birch Lecture (suitable for a general chemistry audience), one or two more specialised research seminars, the Birch Dinner, and occasionally an Academy Lecture (suitable for a wider audience that may include government decision makers). The award is allocated on an annual basis and the Birch Lecturer will spend about one week in the School.
| Year | Professor | Home institution | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Professor Roberta Sessoli | University of Florence | Spins in Molecules: A Versatile Platform for Quantum Technologies |
| 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 |