Jack Halpern is an inorganic chemist, the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

. Born in Poland, he moved to Canada in 1929 and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1962.

His research focused on mechanistic organometallic chemistry

Organometallic chemistry

Organometallic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds containing bonds between carbon and a metal. Since many compounds without such bonds are chemically similar, an alternative may be compounds containing metal-element bonds of a largely covalent character...

, especially homogeneous catalysis

Homogeneous catalysis

In chemistry, homogeneous catalysis is a sequence of reactions that involve a catalyst in the same phase as the reactants. Most commonly, a homogeneous catalyst is codissolved in a solvent with the reactants.-Acid catalysis:...

, beginning with early work on the activation of hydrogen by soluble complexes. He contributed to elucidation of the mechanism of the hydrogenation

Hydrogenation

Hydrogenation, to treat with hydrogen, also a form of chemical reduction, is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organic compounds. Hydrogenation typically...

 of alkene

Alkene

In organic chemistry, an alkene, olefin, or olefine is an unsaturated chemical compound containing at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond...

s by Wilkinson's catalyst

Wilkinson's catalyst

Wilkinson's catalyst is the common name for chlorotrisrhodium, a coordination compound with the formula RhCl3 . It is named after the late organometallic chemist and 1973 Nobel Laureate, Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson who popularized its use.-Structure and basic properties:The compound is a square planar,...

 and the stereodetermining step in certain asymmetric hydrogenation processes. Related areas of interest include the reactivity of metal-carbon bonds, e.g. in cobalamins and the pentacyanocobaltate derivatives.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

 in 1974. From the American Chemical Society

American Chemical Society

The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...

 he won the Willard Gibbs Award

Willard Gibbs Award

The Willard Gibbs Award, which consists of an eighteen-carat gold medal, the Willard Gibbs Medal, was founded in 1910 by William A. Converse. The medal was named after J. Willard Gibbs. The award recognizes "eminent chemists who .....

(1986), and awards for Inorganic Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry, and the Distinguished Service in Inorganic Chemistry, the latter in partial recognition of his editorship of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.