:Mark Ratner
{{short description|American physical chemist}}
{{for multi|the American game designer|A. Mark Ratner|the mixed martial arts executive|Marc Ratner|the film character|Fast Times at Ridgemont High}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Mark A. Ratner
| image = Mark Ratner at NIH.jpg
| caption = Ratner in 2009.
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|12|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| field = molecular electronics
| work_institution = Northwestern University
| doctoral_advisor = G. Ludwig Hofacker, Jan Linderberg
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = unimolecular rectifier
| awards = Irving Langmuir Award {{small|(2004)}}
Willard Gibbs Award {{small|(2012)}}
Peter Debye Award {{small|(2016)}}
| religion =
| footnotes =
}}
Mark A. Ratner (born December 8, 1942) is an American chemist and professor emeritus at Northwestern University whose work focuses on the interplay between molecular structure and molecular properties.{{Cite web|title=Mark A. Ratner – Ratner Group|url=https://sites.northwestern.edu/ratner/mark-a-ratner/|access-date=2021-05-27|website=sites.northwestern.edu}} He is widely credited as the "father of molecular-scale electronics" thanks to his groundbreaking work with Arieh Aviram in 1974 that first envisioned how electronic circuit elements might be constructed from single molecules and how these circuits might behave.{{Cite book|last1=Ratner|first1=Mark A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m9Tn_V4an28C|title=Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea|last2=Ratner|first2=Daniel|date=2003|publisher=Prentice Hall Professional|isbn=978-0-13-101400-8|language=en}}
Education
Ratner graduated from Harvard University with an undergraduate degree in chemistry and obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry from Northwestern University.{{Cite web|title=Mark A. Ratner {{!}} Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN)|url=https://isen.northwestern.edu/mark-a-ratner|access-date=2021-05-27|website=isen.northwestern.edu|language=en}}
Academic career
Ratner taught chemistry at New York University from 1970 until 1974. In 1974, he and Arieh Aviram proposed the first unimolecular rectifier,{{Cite journal|date=March 2015|title=Molecular electronics under the microscope|journal=Nature Chemistry|language=en|volume=7|issue=3|pages=181|doi=10.1038/nchem.2200|pmid=25698315 |bibcode=2015NatCh...7..181. |issn=1755-4349|doi-access=free}} thus becoming pioneers in molecular electronics.Aviram, A and Ratner, M.A.; “Molecular Rectifier” Chemical Physics Letters 29: 277 (1974) During more than 45 years in the chemistry department at Northwestern University, Ratner was the inaugural Lawrence B. Dumas Distinguished University Professor, the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor in Chemistry, associate and interim dean of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Co-director of ISEN (Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern), recipient of the Northwestern Alumni Merit Award, and an eleven-time member of the Faculty Teaching Honor Roll.{{Cite web|title=Ratner Named to First Dumas Professorship at Northwestern: Northwestern University News|url=https://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter//stories/2007/11/ratner.html|access-date=2021-05-27|website=www.northwestern.edu|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Mark Ratner Named Interim Dean of Weinberg College|url=https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2014/07/ratner-interim-wcas-dean/|access-date=2021-05-27|website=news.northwestern.edu|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=nanoHUB.org - Members: View: Mark Ratner|url=https://nanohub.org/members/5533|access-date=2021-05-27|website=nanohub.org}}{{Cite web|title=Mark A. Ratner {{!}} InformIT|url=https://www.informit.com/authors/bio/C5D9571C-877A-4BF4-A63A-EE752EA6C161|access-date=2021-05-27|website=www.informit.com}}
Ratner's major areas of research include nonlinear optical response properties of molecules; electron transfer and molecular electronics; quantum dynamics and relaxation in condensed phase; mean-field models for extended systems, including proteins and molecular assemblies; photonics in nanoscale systems; excitons in molecule-based photovoltaics and hybrid classical/quantum representations. He has published more than 1,000 papers in these fields{{Cite web|last=ResearchGate|title=Mark A. Ratner|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark-Ratner|website=ResearchGate}}{{Cite web|title=Mark A Ratner|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=f4LcQSYAAAAJ&hl=en|access-date=2021-05-27|website=scholar.google.com}} through international collaborations, particularly in Denmark, Israel and the Netherlands.{{Cite web|title=Mark A Ratner|url=https://sofi-northwestern.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/mark-a-ratner/network-map/|access-date=2021-05-27|website=SOFI Northwestern|language=en}}
Ratner is a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the National Academy of Sciences.[http://www.pnas.org/content/101/19/7213.full Biography of Mark A. Ratner] by Emma Hitt, National Academy of Sciences, May 5, 2004{{Cite web|last=CSHL Oral History Collection|date=2016|title=Mark Ratner|url=http://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/speaker/mark-ratner/|website=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}} His honors and awards include the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology,{{Cite web|title=2001 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology|url=https://foresight.org/about/2001Feynman.php|access-date=2021-05-27|website=foresight.org}} the Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics,{{Cite web|title=Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics|url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/irving-langmuir-award-in-chemical-physics.html|access-date=2021-05-27|website=American Chemical Society|language=en}} the Willard J. Gibbs Award,{{Cite web|title=Willard Gibbs Award|url=https://chicagoacs.org/Willard_Gibbs_Award|access-date=2021-05-27|website=chicagoacs.org}} the Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry,{{Cite web|title=Peter Debye Award In Physical Chemistry: Mark A. Ratner|url=https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i1/Peter-Debye-Award-Physical-Chemistry.html|access-date=2021-05-27|website=cen.acs.org}} and honorary ScD degrees from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Copenhagen. He also serves on the Governing Board for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.{{Cite web|title=Governing Board|url=http://thebulletin.org/governing-board|access-date=2016-03-30|website=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists}}
Selected works
- Molecular Electronics II (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences) (1998-07) {{ISBN|1-57331-156-1}}
- Same (ed. with Ari Aviram, Vladimiro Mujica) (2002–05) {{ISBN|1-57331-410-2}}
- Electron transport in molecular wire junctions, Nitzan, A.; Ratner, M. A., Science 2003, 300, (5624), 1384-1389.
- Microscopic study of electrical transport through individual molecules with metallic contacts. I. Band lineup, voltage drop, and high-field transport, Xue, Y. Q.; Ratner, M. A., Physical Review B 2003, 68, (11).
- Molecular electronics: Some views on transport and beyond, Joachim, C.; Ratner, M. A, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2005, 102, (25), 8800-8800.
- Intermolecular charge transfer between heterocyclic oligomers. Effects of heteroatom and molecular packing on hopping transport in organic semiconductors, Hutchison, G. R.; Ratner, M. A.; Marks, T. J., Journal of the American Chemical Society 2005, 127, (48), 16866-16881.
- Single-molecule pulling and the folding of donor-acceptor oligorotaxanes: Phenomenology and interpretation, Franco, I.; Schatz, G. C.; Ratner, Journal of Chemical Physics 2009, 131, (12).
- Geometry and Electronic Coupling in Perylenediimide Stacks: Mapping Structure-Charge Transport Relationships, Vura-Weis, J.; Ratner, M. A.; Wasielewski, M. R., Journal of the American Chemical Society 2010, 132, (6), 1738-+.
- Exploring local currents in molecular junctions, Solomon, G. C.; Herrmann, C.; Hansen, T.; Mujica, V.; Ratner, M. A., Nature Chemistry 2010, 2, (3), 223-228.
- Quantum Mechanics in Chemistry (with George C. Schatz) (2002-01-28) {{ISBN|0-486-42003-5}}
- Introduction to Quantum Mechanics in Chemistry (with George C. Schatz) (2000-05-18) {{ISBN|0-13-895491-7}}
- Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea (with Daniel Ratner) (2002-11-18) {{ISBN|0-13-101400-5}}
- Nanotechnology and Homeland Security: New Weapons for New Wars (with Daniel Ratner) (2003-10-24) {{ISBN|0-13-145307-6}}
References
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Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:American physical chemists
Category:Members of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science
Category:Northwestern University faculty
Category:People from Shaker Heights, Ohio
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Category:New York University faculty
Category:Northwestern University alumni
Category:21st-century American chemists
Category:American expatriates in Germany
Category:20th-century American chemists
Category:Scientists from Cleveland
Category:American expatriates in Denmark