1. Sir David William Cross MacMillan was born on 16 March 1968 and is a Scottish chemist and the James S McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University, where he was the chair of the Department of Chemistry from 2010 to 2015.
David MacMillan shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Benjamin List "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis".
David MacMillan was born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1968 and grew up in nearby New Stevenston.
David MacMillan's father was a steelworker, while his grandfather was a miner.
David MacMillan attended the local state-funded schools, New Stevenston Primary and Bellshill Academy, and credited his Scottish education and Scottish upbringing for his success.
David MacMillan received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Glasgow, where he worked with Ernie Colvin.
David MacMillan began his independent research career as a member of the chemistry faculty at the University of California, Berkeley in July 1998.
David MacMillan joined the department of chemistry at Caltech in June 2000, where his group's research interests centered on new approaches to enantioselective catalysis.
David MacMillan became the James S McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University in September 2006.
David MacMillan is considered to be one of the founders of organocatalysis.
In 2000, David MacMillan designed small organic molecules that can provide or accept electrons and therefore efficiently catalyse reactions.
David MacMillan developed catalysts that can drive asymmetric catalysis, in which a reaction produces more of the left-handed version of a molecule than the right-handed one, or vice versa.
David MacMillan has extensively developed photoredox catalysis for use in organic synthesis.
Between 2010 and 2014, David MacMillan was the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Chemical Science, the flagship general chemistry journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
In Rio, David MacMillan asked to visit the headquarters of General Severiano, from Botafogo, and was received by the Club's board of directors.
Later in Sao Paulo, David MacMillan held a short panel at University of Sao Paulo Chemistry Institute about his history as a researcher and recent Nobel laureate.
David MacMillan was knighted in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to chemistry and science.