Jean-Marie Lehn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1987), became on Tuesday Doctor Honoris Causa Scientarum of the West University of Timisoara (UVT), write Agerpres.
UVT rector Marilen Pirtea said that in this year of the European Capital of Culture programme, the 11 faculties of the Timisoara higher education institution are constantly trying to give recognition to important names of the scientific, cultural, artistic, economic, social and political world, bringing into the spotlight valuable models for future generations.
„Universities should be seen as poles of stability, places that can gather energies that will allow us to face a future that no one can predict. It should therefore come as no surprise that today we honour a special person who fully understands the dynamism of our world today and makes us see science as an unlimited universe, where the only limits are the self-imposed ones that should be forgotten.
Professor Jean-Marie Lehn is a name that needs no introduction in the world of chemistry and beyond. He has never accepted to conduct his research within the constraints of imposed rules; he has gone beyond the limits that many researchers set themselves in their work. His work led him into new, previously uncharted areas.
He created a new area of chemistry, that of supramolecular chemistry, opening a new door for all the world’s chemists. His research contributed to this area, leading to the mature science of today and earned him the most coveted recognition in the world, the Nobel Prize,” said Rector Marilen Pirtea.
The recent member of the UVT academic community, Jean-Marie Lehn, pointed out in his speech that he had a number of very talented Romanian colleagues who contributed significantly to research work in chemistry and were very active both in their home universities and around the world.
„With this honorary degree, UVT also recognises the role of science and especially the vitality of a particular area, my area of activity, Chemistry. Chemistry plays a central role among the natural sciences and in knowledge, through its economic importance and its permanent presence in our daily life (…) Through its objects, molecule and matter, chemistry expresses its creativity. It has the power to produce new molecules and materials with new properties,” said Professor Jean-Marie Lehn.
The Laudatio was delivered by Daniel Funeriu, former Minister of Education.
Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, aged 83, has been an honorary member of the Romanian Academy since 1993. Jean-Marie Lehn, together with Donald Cram and Charles Pedersen, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987, for the work on the synthesis of cryptands.
