Warwick: Nobel prize winner opens new chemistry labs

Robert Grubbs, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005, opened Warwick University’s new £2.3 million chemistry teaching labs this week.

Peter Sadler, Head of Warwick’s Department of Chemistry, said, “Bob Grubbs’ innovative chemical research has had a major impact on our lives and inspires our students.

“Training in this new state-of-the-art teaching laboratory will allow our students to follow in his foot-steps and make their own contributions to major global challenges, including advances in healthcare, the production and storage of energy, caring for the environment, and the design of new materials.”

Grubbs, the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), was also awarded an honorary degree by Warwick University. Grubbs works on organometallic chemistry and synthetic chemistry, concentrating particularly on catalysts. He is the author of more than 400 publications and has over 80 patents.