Yoshio Nomoto and George Olah |
Chemist George Olah Decorated by Japan
Nobel laureate receives high honor
By Eva Emerson
In December, the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun was presented to USC Distinguished Professor George Olah as a tribute to the valuable role he has played in the development of science and technology in Japan over the last 40 years.
Olah, holder of the Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Chair in Organic Chemistry and director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute, received the decoration during a ceremony held at the Los Angeles residence of the Consul General of Japan.
Olah is one of 38 non-Japanese citizens honored with an Imperial Decoration this year, and one of only three to receive the Grand Cordon decoration, the highest award possible. He is the first foreign scientist to ever receive the honor.
One of the world’s preeminent scholars of hydrocarbon chemistry, Olah won the 1994 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his groundbreaking work on superacids and carbocations—a fleeting chemical species long theorized to exist but never confirmed. Olah devised a way to keep the transient carbocations around long enough to study their properties. What he found revolutionized organic chemistry, leading to new discoveries, new fields of research and countless applications.
The representative of the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology, Hideyuki Tsunoda, thanked Olah for his efforts to promote chemistry in Japan, beginning in the 1960s. Olah trained and mentored more than 30 young Japanese chemists, who worked in his U.S. lab and many of whom subsequently became leaders in academia and industry.
In 1974, Olah was elected a Fellow of the Society for the Promotion of Science in Japan and in 2002 an Honorary Member of the Chemical Society of Japan.
USC College Dean Joseph Aoun proposed a champagne toast to Olah, naming him “the College’s most distinguished scientist.” “Dr. Olah’s dedication to research and the pursuit of knowledge has always been matched by the conviction that science, and in particular chemistry, can change the world for the better—a belief borne out by his own work,” Aoun said later. “As a member of the National Academies of Sciences and Humanities in six countries and a recipient of awards from all over the world, Dr. Olah is a generous scientist with a global view. Today’s award underscores all that makes him so valuable to the College.”
Wearing tails and the red-and-white sash and medals of the Grand Cordon, Olah said it was gratifying to be recognized not just for his scientific research, but also for his efforts in training young scientists and championing science.
Olah’s wife, Judith, took part in the ceremony, while his family, colleagues and other guests, including Katherine Loker, a long-time USC philanthropist, looked on. Loker has been an unwavering supporter of Olah, providing the endowment for his chair and crucial funds for the Loker Hydrocarbon Institute.
Olah’s career began in his native Hungary, where he earned his doctorate from the Technical University of Budapest. He came to the United States in 1957, working first for Dow Chemical Co. and, from 1965 to 1977, at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. In 1977, he joined USC College, moving his entire lab from Cleveland to Los Angeles.
Olah has made significant research contributions to the practical development of improved lead-free gasoline, cleaner high-octane gas and other promising nonpolluting fuels, as well as many processes now used worldwide in pharmaceutical and industrial chemistry. His research has also led to the development of a direct methanol-using fuel cell—a highly efficient and convenient source of electricity.
His recent research centers on conversion of two greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, into useful fuels and products, and is motivated by his long-standing interest in energy and environmental issues. To deal with the problems of diminishing oil reserves and rising levels of greenhouse gases, Olah envisions a new era of producing fuels based on methanol.
This fall, Olah publicly outlined this vision in a guest editorial—called The Methanol Economy—featured on the cover of Chemical & Engineering News, a magazine produced by the American Chemical Society. An elected member of the National Academy of Sciences among many other honors, Olah has authored more than 1,200 scientific papers and more than a dozen monographs and books. He holds more than 120 patents. |
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