Robert Bergman
University of California, Berkley
Robert G. Bergman completed his undergraduate studies at Carleton College in 1963 and his
Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1966 under the direction of Jerome A. Berson; he spent
1966-67 as a postdoctoral fellow in Ronald Breslow's laboratories at Columbia University.
Following that he went to the California Institute of Technology as a Noyes Research Instructor
and rose to full professor in 1973. He moved to a professorship at the University of California,
Berkeley, in July 1977; in 2002 he was appointed Gerald E. K. Branch Distinguished Professor
there.
Bergman received a number of early career awards, including an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
(1969) and a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Award (1970). In 1984 he
was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences. He is the second recipient of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award
in Organometallic Chemistry (l986), and in subsequent years has received additional
recognition from the ACS that has included the Arthur C. Cope Award and the Norris Award in
Physical Organic Chemistry. He has received teaching excellence awards from both Caltech
and UC Berkeley and a Chancellor’s Award for Public Service from Berkeley in 2011. He
received the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry in 2014 and the Wolf Foundation Prize in
Chemistry in 2017.
Bergman was trained as an organic chemist and spent the first part of his independent career
studying reaction mechanisms. In 1972 he discovered a transformation of ene-diynes that was
later identified as a crucial DNA-cleaving reaction in several antibiotics that bind to nucleic
acids. In the mid-1970s Bergman’s research broadened to include organometallic chemistry, He
is probably best known for his discovery of the first soluble organometallic complexes that
undergo intermolecular insertion of transition metals into the carbon-hydrogen bonds of alkanes
and the application of this class of reactions to problems in organic synthesis.
Seminars at 4:10pm
Tuesday, Oct 13th
The Application of Physical Organic Methods to the Investigation of Organometallic Reaction Mechanisms:
A Nostalgia Trip Through Organometallic Chemistry of the Late 20th Century
Wednesday, Oct 14th
Selective Stoichiometric and Catalytic Reactions in Water-Soluble Host-Guest Supramolecular Systems
History of The William Lloyd Evans Lectures
The Evans Lecture at Ohio State University was established in 1961 upon the dedication of Evans Laboratory, in recognition of the late William Lloyd Evans for his distinguished service to the Department of Chemistry. Each year, a faculty committee has been charged with selecting a chemist of outstanding international stature to receive the Evans Award and present the Evans Lecture.
William Lloyd Evans (b. 1871) received his M.S. degree in 1896 from Ohio State and joined the Chemistry Department faculty in 1905 after having received his Ph.D. degree that year under Professor Ulric Nef at the University of Chicago. As an Assistant Professor in charge of the course in General Chemistry, “Billy” Evans was soon recognized as an especially effective and inspiring teacher. He rose to the rank of Full Professor in 1911, and his service to the Department was interrupted only by a two-year period of military service during World War I at Edgewood Arsenal. In 1928, he was named Chairman, succeeding Professor William McPherson.
During his tenure as Chairman, a post that he held until 1941, he guided the Department toward increased emphasis on graduate research. He encouraged the development of a strong research-oriented faculty and the expansion of research through involvement of outside industry and government agencies in sponsored programs. Following his retirement in 1941, Professor Evans was elected President of the American Chemical Society, and he continued his work in chemistry during active retirement until his death in 1954 at the age of 83.
Previous Lecturers:
2019 - Jack Szostak
2018 - Judith P. Klinman
2016 - Daniel Nocera
2015 - Angela Gronenborn
2014 - Carol Robinson
2013 - Jacqueline K. Barton
2012 - Chris Dobson
2011 - Sumio Iijima
2010 - Carolyn Bertozzi
2009 - Professor W. E. Moerner
2008 - Doug Rees
List of Previous Lectures back to 1962.pdf
Note: This lecture was made possible by financial support from the Dr. Robert H. Lawrence Jr. Endowed Fund in Chemistry, the Dr. Kurt L. Loening Endowment Fund in Chemical Nomenclature and Chemical Information, the Chemistry Lecture Fund, as well as numerous other donors.
