Professor Ei-ichi Negishi was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling in the mid-1970s. Born in 1935, Negishi came to the United States in 1960 after graduating from the University of Tokyo.
In 1962, while studying for his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania, he met Purdue chemistry professor Herbert C. Brown—a pioneer in synthetic organic chemistry. Negishi admired Brown’s research and predicted, “Brown will change the whole world of organic chemistry and that is why I came to Purdue.” With Brown as a mentor, Negishi arrived in West Lafayette as a postdoctoral researcher in 1966.
He then moved to Syracuse University where he served as an assistant professor (1972-76) and associate professor (1976-79).
Dr. Negishi joined the faculty at Purdue in 1979—the same year Brown was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry—and has been a researcher in this building for more than thirty years.
In 1999, he was named the Inaugural Herbert C. Brown Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. Dr. Negishi has won many awards, authored several books, and published more than 400 research papers.
Dr. Negishi's name is pronounced: Ei-ichi (Â-E-chE) Negishi (Na-gE-shE) audio clip (.mp3), audio clip (.wav) |
