David MacMillan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir David MacMillan
FRS FRSE
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MacMillan in 2021
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| Born |
David William Cross MacMillan
16 March 1968 |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom United States |
| Education | Bellshill Academy |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow (BSc) University of California, Irvine (MSc, PhD) |
| Awards | Corday-Morgan medal Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2018) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2021) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Stereocontrolled formation of bicyclic tetrahydrofurans and Enantioselective total synthesis of eunicellin diterpenes (1996) |
| Doctoral advisor | Larry E. Overman |
| Other academic advisors | Ernest W. Colvin David A. Evans |
| Doctoral students | Vy Dong, Tehshik Yoon, Robert R. Knowles |
Sir David William Cross MacMillan (born 16 March 1968) is a Scottish chemist. He is a top chemistry professor at Princeton University. From 2010 to 2015, he was also in charge of the Chemistry Department there.
In 2021, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Benjamin List. They won for creating a new way to make chemical reactions happen, called "asymmetric organocatalysis". MacMillan used his prize money to start the May and Billy MacMillan Foundation.
Contents
Early Life and Education
David MacMillan was born in Bellshill, Scotland, in 1968. He grew up in a nearby town called New Stevenston. His father worked in a steel factory, and his grandfather was a miner.
He went to local public schools, New Stevenston Primary and Bellshill Academy. He often says that his Scottish education helped him become successful.
He studied chemistry at the University of Glasgow. After that, in 1990, he moved to the US. He started his advanced studies at the University of California, Irvine. There, he worked on making new ways to build complex molecules. He earned his PhD in 1996.
Career and Discoveries
After finishing his PhD, MacMillan worked at Harvard University. He focused on how to make chemical reactions create only one specific version of a molecule.
In 1998, he started his own research group at the University of California, Berkeley. Later, in 2000, he moved to Caltech. In 2006, he became a professor at Princeton University.
David MacMillan is known as one of the people who started organocatalysis. This is a special way to speed up chemical reactions using small organic molecules. In 2000, he designed molecules that could help reactions happen more easily.
He developed catalysts that can make "asymmetric" reactions. This means a reaction can produce more of a "left-handed" molecule than a "right-handed" one, or vice versa. Molecules can be like hands; they can be mirror images of each other. MacMillan's work helps scientists make specific versions of important molecules.
His research group has made many breakthroughs in this area. They have used these new methods to create many complex natural products. These are chemicals found in nature, often used in medicines.
MacMillan also worked a lot on something called photoredox catalysis. This uses light to help chemical reactions happen.
From 2010 to 2014, he was the first editor-in-chief of a science journal called Chemical Science.
Visit to Brazil
In April 2024, David MacMillan visited Brazil. He gave talks at universities in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In Rio, he even visited the headquarters of a football club, Botafogo.
In São Paulo, he shared his story as a researcher and Nobel winner at the University of São Paulo Chemistry Institute. He is also set to give a speech in September 2024 at a meeting about organic synthesis in Bento Gonçalves, Brazil.
Awards and Recognition
Sir David MacMillan has received many important awards for his work:
- 2002 – Sloan Research Fellowship
- 2004 – Corday-Morgan medal
- 2012 – Became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
- 2012 – Became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2013 – Became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE)
- 2015 – Harrison Howe Award
- 2017 – Ryoji Noyori Prize
- 2018 – Became a member of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2021 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 2022 – Was made a Knight Bachelor by the King for his services to chemistry and science.
- 2024 – Received an honorary PhD from North Carolina State University
See also
