George Andrew Olah

{{Infobox scientist

|image = Oláh György előadása 8299.jpg

|caption = Olah in 2009

|birth_name = Oláh András György

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|5|22}}

|birth_place = Budapest, Hungary

|residence =

|citizenship = {{hlist|Hungary|U.S.}}

|death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|3|8|1927|5|22}}

|death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S.

|field = Chemistry

|work_institution = {{Plainlist|

|alma_mater = Budapest University of Technology and Economics

|doctoral_advisor =

|doctoral_students =

|known_for = Carbocations via superacids

|prizes = {{Plainlist|

Tolman Award (1991)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1994)
ForMemRS (1997)
Arthur C. Cope Award (2001)
Order of the Rising Sun (2003)
Priestley Medal (2005)
Hungarian Order of Pro Merit (2006){{cite web|url=http://superstarsofscience.com/scientist/george-a-olah|title=George A. Olah – A Superstar of Science|access-date=March 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810133118/http://superstarsofscience.com/scientist/george-a-olah|archive-date=August 10, 2014|url-status=dead}}}}

|footnotes =

|spouse={{marriage|Judit Lengyel|1949}}

| children=2

}}

George Andrew Olah (born Oláh András György; May 22, 1927 – March 8, 2017) was a Hungarian-American chemist. His research involved the generation and reactivity of carbocations via superacids. For this research, Olah was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1994 "for his contribution to carbocation chemistry."{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1994/index.html|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1994|publisher=The Nobel Foundation|access-date=December 22, 2008}} He was also awarded the Priestley Medal, the highest honor granted by the American Chemical Society and F.A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research of the American Chemical Society in 1996.{{cite book | last= George A. Olah| title = A Life Of Magic Chemistry: Autobiographical Reflections of a Nobel Prize Winner| publisher = Wiley-Interscience| year = 2000 | isbn = 978-0-471-15743-4}}{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5369301|title=Exploring the Methanol Economy|website=NPR|access-date=March 15, 2017}}[https://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

After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he emigrated to the United Kingdom, which he left for Canada in 1964, finally resettling in the United States in 1965. According to György Marx, he was one of The Martians.[http://fizikaiszemle.hu/archivum/fsz9703/marsl.html A marslakók legendája] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409175959/http://fizikaiszemle.hu/archivum/fsz9703/marsl.html |date=2022-04-09 }} – György Marx

Early life and education

Olah was born in Budapest, Hungary, on May 22, 1927, into a Jewish couple, Magda (Krasznai) and Gyula Oláh, a lawyer.[https://hungarytoday.hu/news/olah-gyorgy-nobel-prize-awarded-hungarian-american-chemist-dies-aged-89-56604 George Oláh, Nobel Prize Winning Hungarian-American Chemist, Dies at 89] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309135443/http://hungarytoday.hu/news/olah-gyorgy-nobel-prize-awarded-hungarian-american-chemist-dies-aged-89-56604 |date=March 9, 2017 }}, Hungary Today, March 9, 2017{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1994/olah-autobio.html|title=George A. Olah – Biographical|access-date=March 15, 2017}} After the high school of Budapesti Piarist Gimnazium,{{citation |last1=Náray-Szabó |first1=Gábor |last2=G |first2=Palló |title=The Hungarian Gymnasium Educational Experience and Its Influence on the Global Power Shift |date=2012 |url=https://repozitorium.omikk.bme.hu/handle/10890/2248 |access-date=6 June 2023 |publisher=Global Science & Technology Forum |isbn=9780615573106 |language=en}} he studied under organic chemist Géza Zemplén at the Technical University of Budapest, now the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, where he earned M.S. and Ph.D degrees in chemical engineering. From 1949 through 1954, he taught at the school as a professor of organic chemistry. In the subsequent two years, from 1954 to 1956, he worked at the research institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he was associate scientific director and head of the department of organic chemistry.

Career and research

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.{{cite book | author = George A. Olah | title = Friedel-Crafts and Related Reactions | publisher = John Wiley and Sons|location=New York | year = 1965}} In 1965, he returned to academia at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, chairing the department of chemistry from 1965 to 1969, and from 1967 through 1977 he was the C. F. Maybery Distinguished Professor of Research in Chemistry. In 1971, Olah became a naturalized citizen of the United States.{{cite book|last=Mathew|first=Thomas|author2=George Andrew Olah | title=A Life of Magic Chemistry: Autobiographical Reflections Including Post-Nobel Prize Years and the Methanol Economy | chapter=Curriculum Vitae of George Andrew Olah | publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. | location=Hoboken, NJ, USA | date=April 24, 2015 | isbn=978-1-118-84010-8 | doi=10.1002/9781118840108.oth | pages=300–305}} He then moved to the University of Southern California in 1977.

At USC, Olah was a distinguished professor and the director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute.{{cite web|url=http://chem.usc.edu/faculty/Olah.html|title=Department of Chemistry|access-date=March 15, 2017}} Starting in 1980, he served as the Distinguished Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor

of Chemistry and later became a distinguished professor in USC's school of engineering. In 1994, Olah was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contribution to carbocation chemistry".{{cite web | title = The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1994 | publisher = Nobelprize.org | url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1994/index.html|access-date=March 11, 2017}} In particular, Olah's search for stable nonclassical carbocations led to the discovery of protonated methane stabilized by superacids, like FSO₃H-SbF₅ ("Magic Acid").

:CH₄ + H⁺ → CH₅⁺

Because these cations were able to be stabilized, scientists could now use infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study them in greater depth, as well as use them as catalysts in organic synthesis reactions.{{cite news|url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/chemistry-nobel-laureate-george-olah-dies-aged-89/2500536.article|title=Chemistry Nobel laureate George Olah dies aged 89|last=Stoye|first=Emma|date=March 10, 2017|publisher=Chemistry World|access-date=March 10, 2017}}

Olah, with Canadian chemist Saul Winstein, was also involved in a career-long battle with Herbert C. Brown of Purdue over the existence of so-called "nonclassical" carbocations – such as the norbornyl cation, which can be depicted as cationic character delocalized over several bonds.{{cite web|url=http://www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/non-classical-cation-classic-case-conflict|title=The Non-classical Cation: A Classic Case of Conflict|date=July 11, 2013|publisher=UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry|access-date=March 9, 2017}} Olah's studies of the cation with NMR spectroscopy provided more evidence suggesting that Winstein's model of the non-classical cation, "featuring a pair of [delocalized] electrons smeared between three carbon atoms," was correct.{{cite news|url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-nonclassical-cation-a-classic-case-of-conflict/6368.article|title=The nonclassical cation: a classic case of conflict|last=Peplow|first=Mark|date=July 10, 2013|publisher=Chemistry World|access-date=March 10, 2017}}

In 1997, the Olah family formed an endowment fund (the George A. Olah Endowment) which grants annual awards to outstanding chemists, including the George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry, formerly known as the ACS Award in Petroleum Chemistry. The awards are selected and administered by the American Chemical Society."George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry", Chemical & Engineering News, January 19, 2009, p. 74

Later in his career, his research shifted from hydrocarbons and their transformation into fuel to the methanol economy, namely generating methanol from methane.{{cite news|url=http://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/162300/nobel-prize-winner-of-1994-george-andrew-olah-dies-at-89.html|title=Nobel Prize winner of 1994 George Andrew Olah dies at 89|date=March 10, 2017|publisher=Chem Europe|access-date=March 10, 2017}} He joined with Robert Zubrin, Anne Korin, and James Woolsey in promoting a flexible-fuel mandate initiative.Olah, G. [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6202497-superacid-catalyzed-depolymerization-conversion-coals-final-technical-report-hf-bf-sub-sub "Superacid Catalyzed Depolymerization and Conversion of Coals. Final Technical Report. [HF:BF{sub 2}/H{sub 2}]"], University of Southern California, United States Department of Energy, (1980).Olah, G. A. [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5165212-superacid-catalyzed-coal-conversion-chemistry-quarterly-technical-progress-reports-september-march-model-compound-consisting-benzene-rings-connected-various-bridging-units-alkylidene-ether-sulfide-etc "Superacid Catalyzed Coal Conversion Chemistry. 1st and 2nd Quarterly Technical Progress Reports, September 1, 1983 – March 30, 1984."], University of Southern California, United States Department of Energy, (1984).Olah, G. A. [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5253008-superacid-catalyzed-coal-conversion-chemistry-final-technical-report-september-september "Superacid Catalyzed Coal Conversion Chemistry. Final Technical Report, September 1, 1983 – September 1, 1986."], University of Southern California, United States Department of Energy, (1986). In 2005, Olah wrote an essay promoting the methanol economy in which he suggested that methanol could be produced from hydrogen gas (H₂) and industrially derived or atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), using energy from renewable and nuclear sources to power the production process.{{cite journal | author = George A. Olah | title = Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy | journal = Angewandte Chemie International Edition | volume = 44 | issue = 18 | pages = 2636–2639 | year = 2005 | doi = 10.1002/anie.200462121 | pmid = 15800867| url = http://d-nb.info/1149717262/04 }}

Personal life

He married Judit Ágnes Lengyel (Judith Agnes Lengyel) in 1949, and they had two children, György (George), born in Hungary in 1954, and Ronald, born in the U.S. in 1959. Olah died on March 8, 2017, at his home in Beverly Hills, California.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/hungarian-american-nobel-winner-george-olah-dies-aged-46017676|title=George A. Olah, who won Nobel Prize in chemistry, dies at 89|first=John|last=Rogers|publisher=ABC|date=March 9, 2017|access-date=March 10, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309200510/https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/hungarian-american-nobel-winner-george-olah-dies-aged-46017676|archive-date=March 9, 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/hungarian-american-nobel-winner-george-a-olah-dies-aged-89/2017/03/09/8ebf8b92-04dd-11e7-9d14-9724d48f5666_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309191125/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/hungarian-american-nobel-winner-george-a-olah-dies-aged-89/2017/03/09/8ebf8b92-04dd-11e7-9d14-9724d48f5666_story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 9, 2017|title=Hungarian-American Nobel winner George A. Olah dies aged 89|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=March 15, 2017}} After his death, the Hungarian government said that the "country has lost a great patriot and one of the most outstanding figures of Hungarian scientific life."

Awards and honours

File:Oláh György a Parlamentben.jpg

1970 ACS Henry Morley Medal{{cite web|url=http://scalacs.org/?page_id=1352|title=1991 George Olah, USC|date=1992|publisher=Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society|access-date=March 9, 2017}}
1989 California Scientist of the Year
1989 Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry
1993 Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists{{cite web|url=http://www.theaic.org/award_winners/chem_pioneer.html#cpa60s|title=Chemical Pioneer Award|publisher=American Institute of Chemists|access-date= November 30, 2015}}
1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1996 ACS F. A. Cotton Medal{{cite web|url=https://www.chem.tamu.edu/medals+lectureships/cotton-medal/Cotton-Medal.php|title= F. A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research – Previous Recipients|publisher= American Chemical Society|access-date= November 30, 2015}}
1996 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}
1997 Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1997.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005225440/https://royalsociety.org/people/george-olah-12022/|archive-date=October 5, 2015|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/george-olah-12022/|title=Professor George Olah ForMemRS Foreign Member|publisher=Royal Society|location=London}}
2001 Arthur C. Cope Award
2001 Elected a member of the American Philosophical Society{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=George+A.+Olah&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-07-13|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}
2005 Priestley Medal from the American Chemical Society