In Memoriam
Richard A. Andersen
Professor of Chemistry
Faculty Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
UC Berkeley
1942-2019
The field of inorganic chemistry lost one of its most passionate practitioners when Professor Richard Andersen passed away in Oakland, California, on June 16, 2019, at the age of 76.
Andersen was born in Oklahoma on November 16, 1942, and grew up in South Dakota where his passion for chemistry was ignited during his high school days. He attended the University of South Dakota, and graduated with a B.A. degree in 1965. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Wyoming (Ph.D. 1973), working with the legendary organometallic chemist, Geoffrey Coates. On the day it was announced that Geoffrey Wilkinson and E. O. Fischer would share the 1973 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Andersen received an offer to conduct his postdoctoral research in Wilkinson’s laboratory at Imperial College in London. Andersen took up this post that year. In June 1976 he joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Chemistry.
Over the span of 40 years, Andersen made foundational contributions to many areas of inorganic and organometallic chemistry. He is well known for his pioneering interests in understanding the coordination and organometallic chemistry of elements across the periodic table. He demonstrated the stabilization of low-valent, low-coordinate complexes of d- and f-metals, and the selective introduction of multiply-bonded functional groups, demonstrating unusual redox reactions. His work was always characterized by careful synthetic studies accompanied by methodical investigation of electronic structure and its influence on chemical and physical behavior. He studied the unique reactivity of these complexes in the activation of small molecules, often as models for catalytically active species. Most recently, he directed this interest to a collaborative study of the catalytic activity of solid-supported lanthanides in olefin polymerization, demonstrating 13C chemical shift tensors as an indicator of the activity of catalysts.
He remained actively engaged in his own research “at the bench” and in research collaborations throughout his career, working closely with other Berkeley faculty, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory staff, and collaborators around the world. He was always available as a resource to all, sharing his encyclopedic knowledge and chemical insight. His strong involvement in collaborative science is reflected in the many visiting professorships he was awarded around the world, including appointments in Seville, Spain; Lyon and Montpellier, France; New South Wales, Australia; and Zurich, Switzerland. He was also a Humboldt Professor in various locations in Germany.
Above all, Andersen will long be remembered for his generosity in sharing his knowledge and his time with generations of Berkeley students, as both a teacher and a mentor. Many students had the opportunity to be co-mentored by Andersen and other advisors in the department. He had a special passion for teaching the Berkeley course in synthetic inorganic chemistry, Chemistry 108. Many undergraduates learned synthetic chemistry from his hands-on approach to this course. Andersen's lasting contributions to teaching in this field were highlighted in an article written by his former Ph.D. student Joanne L. Stewart, which was included in an virtual issue dedicated to his 75th birthday. This collection of articles was published in the journals Chemical Communications (2018, 54, 12131) and Dalton Transactions (2018, 45, 13755), and was edited by his colleagues T. Don Tilley and John Arnold.
Those who have worked with him will always miss his colorful personality and his unique fascination with and excitement about molecules.
T. Don Tilley
Carol J. Burns
2019
Andersen was born in Oklahoma on November 16, 1942, and grew up in South Dakota where his passion for chemistry was ignited during his high school days. He attended the University of South Dakota, and graduated with a B.A. degree in 1965. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Wyoming (Ph.D. 1973), working with the legendary organometallic chemist, Geoffrey Coates. On the day it was announced that Geoffrey Wilkinson and E. O. Fischer would share the 1973 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Andersen received an offer to conduct his postdoctoral research in Wilkinson’s laboratory at Imperial College in London. Andersen took up this post that year. In June 1976 he joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Chemistry.
Over the span of 40 years, Andersen made foundational contributions to many areas of inorganic and organometallic chemistry. He is well known for his pioneering interests in understanding the coordination and organometallic chemistry of elements across the periodic table. He demonstrated the stabilization of low-valent, low-coordinate complexes of d- and f-metals, and the selective introduction of multiply-bonded functional groups, demonstrating unusual redox reactions. His work was always characterized by careful synthetic studies accompanied by methodical investigation of electronic structure and its influence on chemical and physical behavior. He studied the unique reactivity of these complexes in the activation of small molecules, often as models for catalytically active species. Most recently, he directed this interest to a collaborative study of the catalytic activity of solid-supported lanthanides in olefin polymerization, demonstrating 13C chemical shift tensors as an indicator of the activity of catalysts.
He remained actively engaged in his own research “at the bench” and in research collaborations throughout his career, working closely with other Berkeley faculty, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory staff, and collaborators around the world. He was always available as a resource to all, sharing his encyclopedic knowledge and chemical insight. His strong involvement in collaborative science is reflected in the many visiting professorships he was awarded around the world, including appointments in Seville, Spain; Lyon and Montpellier, France; New South Wales, Australia; and Zurich, Switzerland. He was also a Humboldt Professor in various locations in Germany.
Above all, Andersen will long be remembered for his generosity in sharing his knowledge and his time with generations of Berkeley students, as both a teacher and a mentor. Many students had the opportunity to be co-mentored by Andersen and other advisors in the department. He had a special passion for teaching the Berkeley course in synthetic inorganic chemistry, Chemistry 108. Many undergraduates learned synthetic chemistry from his hands-on approach to this course. Andersen's lasting contributions to teaching in this field were highlighted in an article written by his former Ph.D. student Joanne L. Stewart, which was included in an virtual issue dedicated to his 75th birthday. This collection of articles was published in the journals Chemical Communications (2018, 54, 12131) and Dalton Transactions (2018, 45, 13755), and was edited by his colleagues T. Don Tilley and John Arnold.
Those who have worked with him will always miss his colorful personality and his unique fascination with and excitement about molecules.
T. Don Tilley
Carol J. Burns
2019
