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Photography by Bruce Powell
Tribute to Mark A. Ratner There must be some magic in the fact that for more than four decades, theoreticians from many different nationalities have kept a constant flow to the Department of Chemistry of Northwestern University. One of the pivotal poles of attraction in a group that consists of three bright scientists has been Mark Ratner. Mark has an uncommon combination of an inexhaustible enthusiasm for science and a remarkable instinct to interact with many different people and make all of them feel welcome. As a leader of a world-class research group and as a teacher, there has always been around him an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and genuine sharing of knowledge that combines comradery with a fierce quest for understanding. Few areas of theoretical chemistry have been left untouched by Ratner’s research efforts. Probably his most influential and most widely cited achievement (1440 hits according to the SCI) was his pioneering work in 1974 with his then student Ari Aviram on molecular rectifiers. At a time when very few people were even talking about molecular electronics, the suggestion that a single molecule could be used as a rectifying device preceded, by more than two decades, the spectacular development in molecular electronics and positioned Ratner as one of the founders of the field. However, molecular electronics is only part of a monumental scientific production collected in more than 700 articles collectively cited more than 15 000 times. However, the sheer arithmetic of productivity indices does not do justice to a scientific career whose trademarks have been originality and depth of thinking. Be it on molecular electron transfer, where his work has been of fundamental importance, nonlinear optics, transport in organic polymers, theory of relaxation, surface self-assembly, nanomagnetism or stochas-
tic dynamics, to mention just some of the fields influenced by Ratner’s work, creativity and clarity of thinking are always present. Teaching has always been a core concern for Ratner. Large freshmen chemistry classes, where the early influence of a great teacher is best felt, combines with the attention of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in a seamless way. The attitude of the scientific free thinker, where there are no dogmas but foundations to be argued about, has been transmitted through several generations of students and scholars. Fishing, for the most part, catching small creatures that are returned to the water, canoeing, and camping are family rituals that have become yearly activities of his group and an important contribution to the quality of the global Evanston experience. Time near the water might as well be the time for scientific and intellectual inquiry or perhaps for a discussion about poetry and literature, two of Ratner’s other passions. The National Academy of Sciences and several international academies and associations have recognized Mark’s scientific activities. Perhaps in a more intimate direction, but surely one of his greatest prides, is the fact that father Mark and son Daniel have written several books together about the societal impact of nanotechnology and that his daughter Stacy is the driving force for a remarkable initiative to stimulate literacy, book sharing, and reading for the population at large but for children in particular. Behind the whole family enterprise is the unmistakable and loving hand of his wife Nancy, who excels as a host for the uncountable number of scientists and students who visit their home in Glencoe.
10.1021/jp109867m 2010 Vladimiro Mujica Published on Web 12/02/2010
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The passage of time is hardly visible in this incredibly energetic man who sleeps a few hours to go to Copenhagen or Tel-Aviv for a couple of days’ trip, be it to lecture, to talk with the Queen of Denmark while receiving an honorary degree, or to pay tribute to a friend. It is now his numerous friends’ and colleagues’ turn to pay tribute to a life where knowledge and friendship have lived as close as it gets to one of the major scientific players in modern chemical sciences.
Vladimiro Mujica Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State UniVersity Abraham Nitzan School of Chemistry, Tel-AViV UniVersity Kurt Mikkelsen Department of Chemistry, UniVersity of Copenhagen JP109867M
