By Doug
Tattershall
Lipscomb, the university's
only living Nobel laureate, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1976 for his research
into the structure of boron molecules. His findings led to new conclusions about the
general nature of chemical bonding.
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Oct.
14, 1999 – (Lexington, Ky.) – William Nunn
Lipscomb, the University of Kentucky's only living Nobel laureate will visit the UK campus
this month to receive the first College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award. The
1941 UK alumnus will make a brief public address, "Science as a Humanity: The
Humanities as a Science," at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in 228 Student Center. He
will receive the alumni award at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, at the Boone Faculty Center. He
also will visit with chemistry students and professors during his visit.
Lipscomb won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1976 for his research into the structure
of boron molecules that led to new conclusions about the general nature of chemical
bonding. He earned his doctoral degree from the California Institute of Technology in
1946, then joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota. In 1959, he became professor
of chemistry at Harvard University, where he conducted his Nobel-Prize-winning research.
Lipscomb is the second UK alumnus to receive a Nobel Prize. The
first was Thomas Hunt Morgan, who received the prize in 1933 for research in heredity and
genetics.
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