David Milstein facts for kids

David Milstein (Hebrew: דוד מילשטין; born June 4, 1947) is a famous Israeli chemist. He studies how to make chemical reactions happen faster and more easily, a field called homogeneous catalysis.

Early Life and Education

David Milstein was born in 1947 in Ulm, Germany. His family had to leave their home because of the Holocaust. When he was two years old, his family moved to the new country of Israel.

He first became interested in chemistry while in high school in the town of Rehovot. His chemistry teacher was very exciting and showed him many cool experiments. This teacher made him love chemistry!

David Milstein went on to study chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned three degrees there: a Bachelor's, a Master's, and a Ph.D.

His Amazing Career in Chemistry

After finishing his Ph.D., Dr. Milstein did more advanced research at the University of Iowa and Colorado State University. He worked with a scientist named John Kenneth Stille. Together, they did important work that led to a major chemical reaction known as the Stille reaction. This reaction is still very important in chemistry today.

In 1979, Dr. Milstein joined a big research company called DuPont Central Research & Development in Delaware. There, he led a team that focused on making chemical reactions more efficient.

In 1987, he moved back to Israel and joined the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is now a top professor there, holding the Israel Matz Professorial Chair of Organic Chemistry.

What Dr. Milstein Researches

Dr. Milstein's research mainly focuses on special metal compounds. He uses unique "pincer ligands" in his work. These are like tiny chemical "tweezers" that help control reactions.

Reaction of H₂ with a Milstein catalyst.

Early in his career, he studied how to break strong chemical bonds, like those between carbon atoms (C-C) or carbon and hydrogen (C-H). He found new ways to do this, which was a big step forward in chemistry.

One of his most famous discoveries involves using his special metal compounds to create new chemicals while also producing hydrogen gas. For example, he found a way to make amides (a type of chemical) from alcohols and amines. This reaction is very clean because the only other thing it makes is hydrogen gas!

• RCH₂OH + R'NH₂ → RC(O)NHR' + 2 H₂

This discovery was so important that Science magazine called it one of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of 2007! His methods are praised for being very precise and gentle.

He also found ways to make esters (another type of chemical) from alcohols:

• 2 RCH₂OH → RC(O)OR + 2 H₂

In another exciting project, Dr. Milstein and his team found a way to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using special ruthenium catalysts. This process uses both heat and light, and it's a new way to think about getting hydrogen fuel from water without needing other chemicals.

Awards and Recognitions

Dr. Milstein has received many important awards for his amazing work in chemistry:

• 2019: Became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS)
• 2018: Elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences
• 2017: Received the European Prize of Organometallic Chemistry
• 2017: Received the Israel Chemical Society Gold Medal
• 2016: Received the ENI Award for Protection of the Environment
• 2012: Elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
• 2012: Received the Israel Prize in Chemistry and Physics (one of Israel's highest honors)
• 2011: Received the Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation
• 2010: Became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
• 2010: Received the Royal Society of Chemistry Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Award
• 2007: Received the American Chemical Society Award in Organometallic Chemistry
• 2007: His research was chosen by Science magazine as one of the top 10 major scientific breakthroughs of the year
• 2006: Received the Israel Chemical Society Prize
• 2006: Elected to the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 2006: Was a Miller Visiting Professor at the Miller Institute, UC Berkeley
• 2002: Received The I.M. Kolthoff Prize in Chemistry (awarded by Technion, Israel Institute of Technology)
• 1999: Received The Paolo Chini Memorial Award (awarded by the Italian Chemical Society)

Personal Life

David Milstein is the son of Musia and Abraham, and he has an older sister named Lea. He married Adi Milstein in 1971. They have three children: Nofit (born 1972), Oren (born 1976), and Abraham (born 1983). Oren is one of the people who started a company called StemRad. Dr. Milstein lives in the town of Rehovot in Israel.