Caltech Mourns the Loss of Nobel Laureate Robert H. Grubbs

Robert Grubbs, the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at Caltech, passed away on December 19, 2021. He was 79 years old.

Grubbs was a co-winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis. Metathesis—which means “change places”—is a chemical reaction, aided by special catalysts, in which double bonds between carbon atoms are broken and remade in ways that cause specific chemical groups to change places. In this way, functional features of molecules can be selectively stripped out and replaced with groups that were previously part of another compound.

In particular, Grubbs developed powerful new catalysts that enabled the synthesis of custom-built molecules with specialized properties that enable, for example, the creation of specialized plastics or more effective drugs for the treatment of disease. The metathesis process, because of its relative simplicity, has led to the development of industrial and pharmaceutical methods that create fewer waste products, making them more efficient and environmentally friendly.

“Bob was an inspiration to Caltech colleagues and to scientists around the world, for his human qualities as much as for his pathbreaking contributions to research and society. We will keenly miss his wisdom and vision,” says Caltech president Thomas F. Rosenbaum, holder of the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential chair and professor of physics.

Grubbs’s subsequent work also focused on the development of powerful new “green” chemical catalysts. In 2015, for example, Grubbs and his colleagues discovered an efficient method for producing a group of silicon-containing organic compounds without relying on expensive precious metal catalysts. Instead, the new technique uses as a catalyst a cheap, safe, and abundant chemical that is commonly found in chemistry labs around the world—potassium tert-butoxide—to help sustainably create a host of products ranging from new medicines to advanced materials.

“Bob Grubbs’ remarkable scientific achievements are well documented by his many awards and honors,” says Dennis Dougherty, George Grant Hoag Professor of Chemistry and Norman Davidson Leadership Chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (CCE). “Those who knew him will remember him as an equally remarkable husband, father, grandfather, friend, and colleague. Bob and Helen, the love of his life, traveled extensively together, making lifelong friends around the world. Bob’s passing creates a huge hole in the CCE Division, Caltech, and, indeed, the entire world of science.”

“Bob was as widely loved as he was admired,” says Caltech provost David A. Tirrell, Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair. “He trained an extraordinary group of younger scientists who have shaped chemistry worldwide, and he maintained a deep interest in their personal lives and professional successes.”

Among other honors, Grubbs was the recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute (2000), the Arthur C. Cope Award from the American Chemical Society (2002), and the American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (2010). He was inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame in 2015. Grubbs was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering; a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Chemical Society; an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry; and a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received honorary degrees from the University of Florida, Michigan State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Dickinson College, University of Crete in Greece, University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, and Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University in Germany.

Grubbs was born near Paducah, Kentucky, on February 27, 1942. He received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in chemistry from the University of Florida in 1963 and 1965, respectively, and his PhD in chemistry from Columbia University in 1968. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University, he joined the faculty of Michigan State University in 1969. He came to Caltech as a professor of chemistry in 1978 and became the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry in 1990.

A full obituary will follow at a later date.