Negishi will give the free, public, general-interest talk, “Pursuit of My Dreams for Half a Century,” at 1:30 p.m. in Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium.
He will give a more scientifically oriented talk about chemistry at 1:30 p.m. May 10, also in the planetarium.
Negishi shares the 2010 Nobel in chemistry with two other scientists for developing a way to build complex organic molecules needed for uses ranging from electronics to pharmaceutical manufacturing. His contribution was a chemical reaction that organic chemists now call the Negishi coupling, which can simplify the synthesis of complex compounds while reducing the amount of side products.
The scientist is the Herbert Brown distinguished professor of chemistry at Purdue, where he has worked since 1979. He earned his doctorate at University of Pennsylvania after graduating from University of Tokyo. He also taught at Syracuse University. Negishi has won numerous scientific awards, written several books and published more than 400 research papers.
UofL’s Chemistry Graduate Student Association sponsors the annual distinguished lecturer series with Sud-Chemie.