George Andrew Olah

Infobox_Scientist
name = George Andrew Olah

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image_width =150px
caption = George Andrew Olah
birth_date = birth date|1927|5|22
birth_place = Budapest, Hungary
residence =
nationality = Hungarian
death_date =
death_place =
field = chemistry
work_institution = Case Western Reserve University University of Southern California
alma_mater = Budapest University of Technology and Economics
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = carbocations via superacids
prizes = Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1994
religion =
footnotes =

George Andrew Olah (born May 22, 1927 in Budapest, as Oláh György) is a Hungarian-born American chemist. He was significant in stabilizing and in studying carbocations via superacids. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1994. Soon after, he was awarded the Priestley Medal, the highest honor granted by the American Chemical Society.

Life

Olah was born in Budapest, Hungary, on May 22, 1927. After the high school of Budapesti Piarista Gimnazium (Scolopi fathers), he studied, then taught, at what is now Budapest University of Technology and Economics. As a result of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he and his family moved briefly to England and then to Canada where he joined Dow Chemical in Sarnia, Ontario, with another Hungarian chemist, Stephen J. Kuhn. Olah's pioneering work on carbocations started during his eight years with Dow. In 1965 he returned to academia at Case Western Reserve University and then to University of Southern California in 1977. In 1971, Olah became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Olah is currently a distinguished professor at the University of Southern California and the director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute. In 2005, Olah wrote an essay promoting the methanol economy.

Work

The search for stable carbocations lead to the discovery of protonated methane which was stabilized by superacids, like FSO₃H-SbF₅ ("Magic Acid").:CH₄ + H⁺ → CH₅⁺

In recent years, his research has shifted from hydrocarbons and their transformation into fuel to the methanol economy. He has joined with Robert Zubrin, Anne Korin, and James Woolsey in promoting a flexible-fuel mandate initiative.

References

* George A. Olah, Alain Goeppert, G.K. Surya Prakash, "Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy", Angewandte Chemie International Edition Volume 44, Issue 18, Pages 2636 - 2639, 2005
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1994/index.html Nobel Prize website]

External links

* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5369301 Methanol as an alternative fuel] Recording of a discussion with George Olah broadcast on NPR.
* [http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1994/olah-lecture.html My Search for Carbocations and Their Role in Chemistry] Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1994 by George A. Olah
* [http://www.iags.org/index.html The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security ]