Alan G. Mac Diarmid
University of Pennsylvania
Inducted 2008
Dr. Alan G. MacDiarmid (1927 – 2007) was born in New Zealand and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Victoria University College in New Zealand, his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, and a second Ph.D. from Cambridge University, England. Dr. MacDiarmid became known as the “Father of Conductive Polymers.”
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000 for discovering inherently conductive polymers or plastics that conduct electricity much like metals. These electrically conductive polymeric materials are also known as “synthetic” metals. Dr. MacDiarmid was the chemist responsible for developing chemical and/or electrochemical doping of polyacetylene. He was also credited with the “rediscovery” of polyaniline, which became the most widely used electrically conductive polymer. This work led to technological applications for these materials in such diverse areas as rechargeable batteries, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, antistatic dissipation, stealth materials, corrosion inhibition, flexible “plastic” transistors and electrodes, and electroluminescent polymer displays, to name but a few. Many of these continue to be commercially important today.
In 1988, he was named Blanchard Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 2002, he was named Professor of Chemistry and James Von Her Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology at the University of Texas in Dallas.
Among the many honors he received were the 1971 Frederich Stanley Kipping Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1971, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award in Materials Chemistry in 1999, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of electrically conductive polymers in 2000; and the 2001 Society of Plastics Engineers International Award.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastics materials
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_MacDiarmid