31 Facts About Fraser Stoddart

Fraser Stoddart was the Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry and head of the Stoddart Mechanostereochemistry Group in the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University in the United States.

Fraser Stoddart worked in the area of supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology.

Fraser Stoddart demonstrated that these topologies can be employed as molecular switches.

Fraser Stoddart's group has even applied these structures in the fabrication of nanoelectronic devices and nanoelectromechanical systems.

Fraser Stoddart's efforts were recognized by numerous awards, including the 2007 King Faisal International Prize in Science.

Fraser Stoddart shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Ben Feringa and Jean-Pierre Sauvage in 2016 for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.

Fraser Stoddart was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 24 May 1942, the only child of Tom and Jean Stoddart.

Fraser Stoddart was brought up as a tenant farmer on Edgelaw Farm, a small community consisting of three families.

Sir Fraser Stoddart professed a passion for jigsaw puzzles and construction toys in his formative years, which he believed was the basis for his interest in molecular construction.

Fraser Stoddart received early schooling at the local village school in Carrington, Midlothian, before going on to Melville College in Edinburgh.

Fraser Stoddart started at the University of Edinburgh in 1960 where he initially studied chemistry, physics and mathematics.

Fraser Stoddart was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry in 1964 followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in 1966 for research on natural gums in Acacias supervised by Sir Edmund Langley Hirst and D M W Anderson from the University of Edinburgh.

In 1967, Fraser Stoddart went to Queen's University as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow.

Fraser Stoddart was awarded a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1980 for his research into stereochemistry beyond the molecule.

In July 2002, Fraser Stoddart became the Acting Co-Director of the California NanoSystems Institute.

In 2008, Fraser Stoddart established the Mechanostereochemistry Group and was named Board of Trustees Professor in Chemistry at Northwestern University.

Fraser Stoddart went on to be the Director of the Center for the Chemistry of Integrated Systems at Northwestern University in 2010.

In 2017, Fraser Stoddart was appointed a part-time position at the University of New South Wales to establish his New Chemistry initiative at the UNSW School of Chemistry.

In 2019, Fraser Stoddart introduced a skincare brand called Noble Panacea.

In 2021, Fraser Stoddart co-founded a startup called H2MOF, dedicated to solving the challenges associated with hydrogen storage and transportation.

In 2023, Fraser Stoddart joined the University of Hong Kong as Chair Professor of Chemistry.

Fraser Stoddart is one of only a few chemists of the past quarter century to have pioneered a new field in organic chemistry.

Fraser Stoddart's group reported the synthesis of an advanced mechanically interlocked molecular architecture called molecular Borromean rings through the use of dynamic covalent chemistry.

Fraser Stoddart's work bridged the gap between chemistry and the scientific and engineering challenges of nanoelectromechanical systems.

Fraser Stoddart pioneered the use of mechanically interlocked molecular architectures to create nanomechanical systems.

Fraser Stoddart has demonstrated that such devices can be fabricated using a combination of the bottom-up approach of molecular self-assembly and a top-down approach of lithography and microfabrication.

Fraser Stoddart maintains this standardized colour scheme across all of his publications and presentations, and his style has been adopted by other researchers reporting mechanically interlocked molecules based on his syntheses.

Fraser Stoddart was married to Norma Agnes Scholan from 1968 until her death in 2004 from cancer.

Norma Fraser Stoddart obtained a PhD in biochemistry and helped support the research efforts of her husband at the Universities of Sheffield, Birmingham, and California, Los Angeles.

On 30 December 2024, Fraser Stoddart died from cardiac arrest at a hotel in Melbourne, Australia, where he was visiting his daughter, at the age of 82.

Fraser Stoddart was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the New Year's Honours December 2006, by Queen Elizabeth II for Services to Chemistry and Molecular Nanotechnology.