President
Ryoji Noyori assumed the office of President of RIKEN in October 2003.
Born in 1938, Noyori studied chemistry and completed his bachelor's and master's degrees at Kyoto University, and immediately thereafter, in 1963, became an instructor at the same university. He earned his doctorate in 1967, and in the following year was appointed as an associate professor at Nagoya University. Noyori undertook postdoctoral work at Harvard University from 1969 to 1970, after which he returned to Nagoya University where he was promoted to professor in 1972, and served as Dean of the Graduate School of Science from 1997 to 1999.
Currently Noyori holds the emeritus status of University Professor at Nagoya University. He is a member of the Japan Academy and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, as well as a foreign member of the USA and Korean National Academies of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society in the UK, and the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was President of the Chemical Society of Japan from 2002 to 2003.
Noyori is best known for his development of asymmetric catalysis using chiral organometallic molecular catalysts. His method is practical and used worldwide in research and industry for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, flavors, and fragrances.
Noyori's honors include the Japan Academy Prize, the Order of Culture, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and the Roger Adams Award. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with K. B. Sharpless and W. S. Knowles.
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