Ryoji Noyori, born in Kobe, Japan, in 1938, completed his Master Degree at Kyoto University in 1963 and immediately became Instructor at the same university. He received his Ph.D. in 1967 under the supervision of H. Nozaki. He was appointed Associate Professor at Nagoya University in 1968 and promoted to Professor in 1972. He spent a postdoctoral year in 1969-1970 at Harvard University with E. J. Corey. In 2003, Noyori became University Professor at Nagoya University and President of RIKEN. He served as President of the Chemical Society of Japan in 2002-2003. Noyori is a member of the Central Educational Council of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and chairs the Science and Technology Council of MEXT and the National University Corporation Evaluation Committee.His research interest has focused on the fundamentals and applications of molecular catalysis based on organometallic chemistry. Noyori is well known for his initiation and development of asymmetric catalysis using organometallic molecular catalysts. The efficiency of the asymmetric catalysts discovered by Noyori equals or, in certain cases, even exceeds that of enzymes. Applications of his original and versatile chemistry have allowed him and other scientists to achieve truly efficient syntheses of organic molecules of theoretical and practical importance.
Noyori's achievements have been recognized among others by Asahi Prize (1992), Tetrahedron Prize (1992), Japan Academy Prize (1995), Arthur C. Cope Award (1997), King Faisal International Award (1999), Order of Culture (2000), Wolf Prize, Roger Adams Award, and Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2001). He is a member of the Japan Academy, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society, UK.
See also: Nobel Lecture 186-215 (2001) Links; Green Chem. 5, G37-G39 (2003) Links; Chem. Commun. 1807-1811 (2005) Links; Nature Chem. 1, 5-6 (2009) Links.
