Biosketch

Stuart A. Rice is the Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus, in the Department of Chemistry and The James Franck Institute of The University of Chicago. Born in New York City in 1932, he received a B.S. degree from Brooklyn College in 1952 and A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University in, respectively, 1954 and 1955. He has carried out theoretical and experimental research in diverse areas of physical chemistry, amongst which are: transport theory for dense liquids, exciton-exciton interactions, exciton and charge carrier band structures of molecular crystals and liquids, structure of the liquid metal-vapor interface, radiationless transitions, non-statistical behavior in unimolecular reactions, random network model of water, quantum and classical deterministic chaos, active control of molecular dynamics, structure, phase transitions and diffusive motion in quasi-one and quasi-two-dimensional colloid assemblies, and several other subjects. He has coauthored four books: Polyelectrolyte Solutions with Mitsuru Nagasawa, The Statistical Mechanics of Simple Liquids, with Peter Gray, Optical Control of Molecular Dynamics, with Meishan Zhao, and Physical Chemistry, with R. Steven Berry and John Ross. He has received the National Medal of Science (1999) and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2011), the American Chemical Society Pure Chemistry, Baekland, Debye and Hildebrand Awards, as well as the Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry, and the Centennial Medal of Harvard University.

Research Interests

My research interests include elementary photophysical and photochemical processes, studies of quantum chaos, active control of selectivity of chemical reaction, reaction rate theory, study of liquid surfaces, properties of supported monolayers, phase transitions in interfaces, and the equilibrium and dynamical properties of quasi-two dimensional systems.

Membership Type

Member

Election Year

1968

Primary Section

Section 14: Chemistry