View source for Roald Hoffmann

{{Short description|Nobel laureate theoretical chemist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Roald Hoffmann
| image             = Roald Hoffmann.jpg
| caption           = Hoffmann in 2009
| birth_name        = Roald Safran
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1937|7|18}}
| birth_place       = [[Złoczów]], [[Second Polish Republic]]
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| residence         = 
| nationality       = American
| field             = [[Theoretical Chemistry]]
| ethnicity         = 
| work_institutions = [[Cornell University]]
| alma_mater        = [[Columbia University]]<br />[[Harvard University]]
| doctoral_advisor  = {{Plainlist|
* [[William Lipscomb|William N. Lipscomb, Jr.]]
* [[Martin Gouterman]]}}
| thesis_title      = Theory of Polyhedral Molecules: Second Quantization and Hypochromism in Helices.
| thesis_year       = 1962
| thesis_url        = http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990038695720203941/catalog
| doctoral_students = [[Jing Li (chemist)|Jing Li]]
| notable_students  = [[Jeffrey R. Long]] (undergraduate), [[Karen Goldberg]] (undergraduate)
| known_for         = [[Woodward–Hoffmann rules]]<br>[[Extended Hückel method]]<br>[[Isolobal principle]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] {{small|(1981)}}
* [[William H. Nichols Medal]] {{small|(1981)}}
* [[National Medal of Science]] {{small|(1983)}}
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|ForMemRS]] {{small|(1984)}}<ref name=formemrs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109222611/https://royalsociety.org/people/roald-hoffmann-11629/|archive-date=2015-11-09|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/roald-hoffmann-11629/|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|location=London|title=Professor Roald Hoffmann ForMemRS}}</ref>
* [[NAS Award in Chemical Sciences]] <small>(1986)</small>
* [[Priestley Medal]] {{small|(1990)}}
* [[Lomonosov Gold Medal]] {{small|(2011)}}}}
| religion          = 
| footnotes         = 
| signature         = 
| spouse            = {{marriage|Eva Börjesson|1960}}
| children          = 2
| website           = {{URL|http://www.roaldhoffmann.com}}
}}

'''Roald Hoffmann''' (born '''Roald Safran'''; July 18, 1937)<ref>Hoffmann's birth name was Roald Safran. Hoffmann is the surname adopted by his stepfather in the years after World War II.</ref> is a Polish-American [[theoretical chemistry|theoretical chemist]] who won the 1981 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]]. He has also published plays and poetry. He is the Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Emeritus at [[Cornell University]].<ref name="interview">{{Cite journal | last1 = Hoffman | first1 = J. | title = Q&A: Chemical connector Roald Hoffmann talks about language, ethics and the sublime | doi = 10.1038/480179a | journal = Nature | volume = 480 | issue = 7376 | pages = 179 | year = 2011 | bibcode = 2011Natur.480..179H | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name = nobel >{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1981/hoffmann/biographical/|title=Roald Hoffmann - Biographical|website=nobelprize.org|access-date=June 2, 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204142324/http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1981/hoffmann-autobio.html|archive-date=December 4, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kewgardensmovie.com/schedule-hoffman.html|title=Photograph of Roald Hoffman|website=kewgardensmovie.com|access-date=May 9, 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222524/http://www.kewgardensmovie.com/schedule-hoffman.html|archive-date=March 3, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/653/000100353/|title=Roald Hoffmann|website=www.nndb.com|access-date=May 9, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117005337/http://www.nndb.com/people/653/000100353/|archive-date=January 17, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Early life==

===Escape from the Holocaust===
[[File:Roald Hoffmann 05.jpg|thumb|left|2015]]

Hoffmann was born in [[Zolochiv|Złoczów]], [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] (now Zolochiv, [[Ukraine]]), to a [[Polish-Jewish]] family, and was named in honor of the Norwegian explorer [[Roald Amundsen]]. His parents were Clara (Rosen), a teacher, and Hillel Safran, a civil engineer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/famous-scientists/chemists/roald-hoffmann-info.htm |title=Roald Hoffmann |publisher=HowStuffWorks |access-date=October 4, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005015520/http://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/famous-scientists/chemists/roald-hoffmann-info.htm |archive-date=October 5, 2013 |df=mdy-all |date=July 2010}}</ref> After Germany invaded Poland and occupied the town, his family was placed in a labor camp where his father, who was familiar with much of the local infrastructure, was a valued prisoner. As the situation grew more dangerous, with prisoners being transferred to extermination camps, the family bribed guards to allow an escape. They arranged with a Ukrainian neighbor named Mykola Dyuk for Hoffmann, his mother, two uncles and an aunt to hide in the attic and a storeroom of the local schoolhouse, where they remained for eighteen months, from January 1943 to June 1944, while Hoffmann was aged 5 to 7.<ref>The rescue of [http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=6601540 Roald Hoffmann] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013065343/http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=6601540 |date=October 13, 2016 }} at [[Yad Vashem]] website</ref><ref name="COH">{{cite book|title= Roald Hoffmann, interviewed by David J. Caruso in Cornell University on October 16, 2014. Oral History Transcript 0925 |date= 2020 |place=Philadelphia, PA|publisher=[[Science History Institute]] |url=https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/c27a8s8}}</ref>

His father remained at the labor camp, but was able to occasionally visit, until he was tortured and killed by the Germans for his involvement in a plot to arm the camp prisoners. When she received the news, his mother attempted to contain her sorrow by writing down her feelings in a notebook her husband had been using to take notes on a relativity textbook he had been reading. While in hiding his mother kept Hoffmann entertained by teaching him to read and having him memorize geography from textbooks stored in the attic, then quizzing him on it. He referred to the experience as having been enveloped in a cocoon of love.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsSxheYLtxU |title=The Moth: The Long Ukrainian Winters - Roald Hoffmann |website=YouTube |date=January 15, 2012 }} featuring Roald Hoffman, lecture at the [[World Science Festival]]. {{Cite web |url=http://worldsciencefestival.com/videos/moth_the_long_ukrainian_winters |title=World Science Festival Video : Moth: The Long Ukrainian Winters |access-date=January 13, 2012 |archive-date=January 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115223218/http://worldsciencefestival.com/videos/moth_the_long_ukrainian_winters |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><ref name="COH"/> In 1944 they moved to [[Kraków]] where his mother remarried.<ref name=nobel/> They adopted her new husband's surname Hoffmann.<ref name=nobel/>

Most of the rest of the family was killed in [[the Holocaust]], though one grandmother and a few others survived.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5519776 The Tense Middle] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180223051250/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5519776 |date=February 23, 2018}} by Roald Hoffmann, story on NPR. Retrieved September 29, 2006.</ref> They migrated to the United States on the troop carrier ''Ernie Pyle'' in 1949.<ref name=Passerelles>{{cite journal|last1=Hoffmann|first1=Roald|title=Passerelles|journal=Chemical Heritage Magazine|date=2012|volume=30|issue=2|page=37|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/passerelles|access-date=20 March 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321132221/https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/passerelles|archive-date=March 21, 2018|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Hoffmann visited [[Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast|Zolochiv]] with his adult son (by then a parent of a five-year-old) in 2006 and found that the attic where he had hidden was still intact, but the storeroom had been incorporated, ironically enough, into a chemistry classroom. In 2009, a monument to Holocaust victims was built in Zolochiv on Hoffmann's initiative.<ref>[http://jta.org/news/article/2009/07/20/1006633/holocaust-monument-dedicated-in-western-ukraine Holocaust monument dedicated in western Ukraine] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516012511/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2009/07/20/1006633/holocaust-monument-dedicated-in-western-ukraine |date=May 16, 2012}}. [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]. July 20, 2009</ref>

==Personal life==
Hoffmann married Eva Börjesson in 1960. They have two children, Hillel Jan and Ingrid Helena.<ref name=NobelBiography/>

He is an atheist.<ref>Liberato Cardellini: "A final and more personal question: You defined yourself as 'an atheist who is moved by religion'. Looking at the tenor of your life and the many goals you have achieved, one wonders where your inner force comes from." Roald Hoffmann: "The atheism and the respect for religion come form (sic) the same source. I observe that in every culture on Earth, absolutely every one, human beings have constructed religious systems. There is a need in us to try to understand, to see that there is something that unites us spiritually. So scientists who do not respect religion fail in their most basic task—observation. Human beings need the spiritual. The same observation reveals to me a multitude of religious constructions—gods of nature, spirits, the great monotheistic religions. It seems to me there can't be a God or gods; there are just manifestations of a human-constructed spirituality." Liberato Cardellini, [http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/sites/all/files/documents/24/cardellini.pdf Looking for Connections: An Interview with Roald Hoffmann] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407142259/http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/sites/all/files/documents/24/cardellini.pdf |date=April 7, 2015 }}, page 1634.</ref>

===Education and academic credentials===
Hoffmann graduated in 1955 from New York City's [[Stuyvesant High School]],<ref name=Cardellini>{{cite journal|last1=Cardellini|first1=Liberato|title=Looking for Connections: An Interview with Roald Hoffmann|journal=Journal of Chemical Education|date=2007|volume=84|issue=10|pages=1631–1635|url=http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/sites/all/files/documents/24/cardellini.pdf|access-date=3 April 2015|doi=10.1021/ed084p1631|bibcode=2007JChEd..84.1631C|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407142259/http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/sites/all/files/documents/24/cardellini.pdf|archive-date=April 7, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/pn/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=11&page=1 |title=Roald Hoffmann's land between chemistry, poetry and philosophy |access-date=October 31, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119031913/http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/pn/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=11&page=1 |archive-date=January 19, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> where he won a [[Westinghouse Science Talent Search|Westinghouse science scholarship]]. He received his [[Bachelor of Arts]] [[academic degree|degree]] at [[Columbia University]] (Columbia College) in 1958. He earned his [[Master of Arts]] degree in 1960 from [[Harvard University]]. He earned his [[doctor of philosophy]] degree from [[Harvard University]] while working<ref name=Hoffmann1962TheoryIII/><ref name=Hoffmann1962TheoryI/><ref name=Hoffmann1962LCAO/><ref name=Hoffmann1962Sequential/><ref name=Hoffmann1963Carboranes/> under joint supervision of [[Martin Gouterman]] and subsequent 1976 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] winner [[William Lipscomb|William N. Lipscomb, Jr.]] Hoffman worked on the molecular orbital theory of polyhedral molecules.<ref name=Cardellini/> Under Lipscomb's direction the [[Extended Hückel method]] was developed by Lawrence Lohr and by Roald Hoffmann.<ref name=Hoffmann1962TheoryI/><ref name=Lipscomb1963/> This method was later extended by Hoffmann.<ref name=Hoffmann1963/> In 1965, he went to [[Cornell University]] and has remained there, where he is a professor emeritus.

==Scientific research==
{{external media | width = 130px | float = right | headerimage= [[File:Buckminsterfullerene animated.gif|130px]] | video1= [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItEqkapohvo “Chemistry's Essential Tension”], Roald Hoffman, [[Dartmouth College]] | video2= [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVwXFfKkTuQ “Roald Hoffmann Shares Discovery Through Chemistry”], Roald Hoffman, [[National Science Foundation]] }}

Hoffmann's research and interests have been in the electronic structure of stable and unstable molecules, and in the study of transition states in reactions.<ref name=Hoffmann1962TheoryIII>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1063/1.1732484| title = Theory of Polyhedral Molecules. III. Population Analyses and Reactivities for the Carboranes| journal = The Journal of Chemical Physics| volume = 36| issue = 12| pages = 3489| year = 1962| last1 = Hoffmann | first1 = R. | last2 = Lipscomb | first2 = W. N. | bibcode = 1962JChPh..36.3489H}}</ref><ref name=Hoffmann1962TheoryI>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1063/1.1732849| title = Theory of Polyhedral Molecules. I. Physical Factorizations of the Secular Equation| journal = The Journal of Chemical Physics| volume = 36| issue = 8| pages = 2179| year = 1962| last1 = Hoffmann | first1 = R. | last2 = Lipscomb | first2 = W. N. | bibcode = 1962JChPh..36.2179H}}</ref><ref name=Hoffmann1962LCAO>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1063/1.1733113| title = Boron Hydrides: LCAO—MO and Resonance Studies| journal = The Journal of Chemical Physics| volume = 37| issue = 12| pages = 2872| year = 1962| last1 = Hoffmann | first1 = R. | last2 = Lipscomb | first2 = W. N. | bibcode = 1962JChPh..37.2872H}}</ref><ref name=Hoffmann1962Sequential>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1063/1.1701367| title = Sequential Substitution Reactions on B<sub>10</sub>H<sub>10</sub><sup>−2</sup> and B<sub>12</sub>H<sub>12</sub><sup>−2</sup>| journal = The Journal of Chemical Physics| volume = 37| issue = 3| pages = 520| year = 1962|bibcode=1962JChPh..37..520H| last1 = Hoffmann | first1 = R. | last2 = Lipscomb | first2 = W. N.| s2cid = 95702477}}</ref><ref name=Hoffmann1963Carboranes>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1021/ic50005a066| title = Intramolecular Isomerization and Transformations in Carboranes and Substituted Polyhedral Molecules| url = http://roaldhoffmann.com/sites/all/files/10.pdf| journal = Inorganic Chemistry| volume = 2| pages = 231–232| year = 1963| last1 = Hoffmann| first1 = R.| last2 = Lipscomb| first2 = W. N.| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150511064356/http://roaldhoffmann.com/sites/all/files/10.pdf| archive-date = May 11, 2015| df = mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=Hoffmann1963>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1063/1.1734456| title = An Extended Hückel Theory. I. Hydrocarbons| journal = The Journal of Chemical Physics| volume = 39| issue = 6| pages = 1397–1412| year = 1963|bibcode=1963JChPh..39.1397H| last1 = Hoffmann | first1 = R.}}</ref><ref name=Lipscomb1963>Lipscomb WN. ''Boron Hydrides'', W. A. Benjamin Inc., New York, 1963, Chapter 3. {{ISBN missing}}</ref> He has investigated the structure and reactivity of both [[organic chemistry|organic]] and [[inorganic chemistry|inorganic]] molecules, and examined problems in organo-metallic and solid-state chemistry.<ref name=Passerelles/> Hoffman has developed semiempirical and nonempirical [[computational chemistry|computational]] tools and methods such as the [[extended Hückel method]] which he proposed in 1963 for determining molecular orbitals.<ref name=NobelBiography>{{cite web|title=Roald Hoffmann - Biographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1981/hoffmann-bio.html|website=Nobel Prize|access-date=20 March 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328010319/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1981/hoffmann-bio.html|archive-date=March 28, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

With [[Robert Burns Woodward]] he developed the [[Woodward–Hoffmann rules]] for elucidating [[reaction mechanism]]s and their [[stereochemistry]]. They realized that chemical transformations could be approximately predicted from subtle symmetries and asymmetries in the [[molecular orbital|electron orbitals]] of complex molecules.<ref name=NYT/> Their rules predict differing outcomes, such as the types of products that will be formed when two compounds are activated by heat compared with those produced under activation by light.<ref name=Woodward>{{cite web|title=Robert Burns Woodward|website=Science History Institute|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/robert-burns-woodward|access-date=20 March 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321132304/https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/robert-burns-woodward|archive-date=March 21, 2018|df=mdy-all|date=June 2016}}</ref> For this work Hoffmann received the 1981 Nobel Prize in chemistry, sharing it with Japanese chemist [[Kenichi Fukui]],<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Buckingham | first1 = A. D. | author-link = A. David Buckingham| last2 = Nakatsuji | first2 = H. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2001.0013 | title = Kenichi Fukui. 4 October 1918 -- 9 January 1998: Elected F.R.S. 1989 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 47 | pages = 223–237 | year = 2001 | title-link = Kenichi Fukui | doi-access = free }}</ref> who had independently resolved similar issues. (Woodward was not included in the prize, which is given only to living persons,<ref name="Nobel"/> although he had won the 1965 prize for other work.) In his Nobel Lecture, Hoffmann introduced the [[isolobal principle|isolobal analogy]] for predicting the bonding properties of [[organometallic compounds]].<ref name=NobelLecture>{{cite web|last1=Hoffmann|first1=Roald|title=Building bridges between inorganic and organic chemistry - Nobel lecture, 8 December 1981|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1981/hoffman-lecture.pdf|website=Nobel Prize|access-date=20 March 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008042914/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1981/hoffman-lecture.pdf|archive-date=October 8, 2014|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Some of Hoffman's most recent work, with [[Neil Ashcroft]] and Vanessa Labet, examines bonding in matter under extreme high pressure.<ref name=Passerelles/>

{{Blockquote|What gives me the greatest joy in this work? That as we tease apart what goes on in hydrogen under pressures such as those that one finds at the center of the earth, two explanations subtly contend with each other ... [physical and chemical] ... Hydrogen under extreme pressure is doing just what an inorganic molecule at 1 atmosphere does!<ref name=Passerelles/>}}

==Artistic interests==

===''The World Of Chemistry'' with Roald Hoffmann===
In 1988 Hoffmann became the series host in a 26-program [[PBS]] education series by Annenberg/CPB, ''[[The World of Chemistry]]'', opposite with series demonstrator [[Don Showalter]]. While Hoffmann introduced a series of concepts and ideas, Showalter provided a series of demonstrations and other visual representations to help students and viewers to better understand the information.

=== ''Entertaining Science'' ===
Since the spring of 2001, Hoffmann has been the host of the monthly series ''Entertaining Science'' at New York City's [[Cornelia Street Cafe]],<ref>{{cite web|title=A Brief History|url=http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/about.html|work=The Cornelia Street Café|access-date=March 22, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708121800/http://corneliastreetcafe.com/about.html|archive-date=July 8, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> which explores the juncture between the arts and science.

===Non-fiction===
He has published books on the connections between art and science: ''Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry'' and ''Beyond the Finite: The Sublime in Art and Science''.<ref name=Magda>{{cite news|last1=Romanska|first1=Magda|title=Between Art and Science: A Conversation with Roald Hoffmann|url=http://cosmopolitanreview.com/roald-hoffman/|access-date=20 March 2015|work=Cosmopolitan Review|date=June 14, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20150320140339/http://cosmopolitanreview.com/roald-hoffman/|archive-date=March 20, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===Poetry===
Hoffmann is also a writer of [[poetry]].<ref name=Amato>{{cite news|last1=Amato|first1=Ivan|title=Roald Hoffmann: Chemist And Poet|url=https://cenboston.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/roald-hoffman-chemist-and-poet/|access-date=20 March 2015|work=Chemical & Engineering News|date=August 21, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402191530/https://cenboston.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/roald-hoffman-chemist-and-poet/|archive-date=April 2, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> His collections include ''The Metamict State'' (1987, {{ISBN|0-8130-0869-7}}),<ref name=ChemWorld2013>{{cite news|title=25 years ago: Roald Hoffmann publishes his poetry|url=http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/02/25-years-ago-roald-hoffmann-publishes-poetry|access-date=20 March 2015|work=Chemistry World|agency=Energy Science Technology|date=28 February 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427012452/http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/02/25-years-ago-roald-hoffmann-publishes-poetry|archive-date=April 27, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> ''Gaps and Verges'' (1990, {{ISBN|0-8130-0943-X}}),<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|last1=Browne|first1=Malcolm W.|title=SCIENTIST AT WORK: Roald Hoffmann; Seeking Beauty In Atoms|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/06/science/scientist-at-work-roald-hoffmann-seeking-beauty-in-atoms.html|access-date=20 March 2015|work=New York Times|date=July 6, 1993|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402121948/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/06/science/scientist-at-work-roald-hoffmann-seeking-beauty-in-atoms.html|archive-date=April 2, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and ''Chemistry Imagined'', co-produced with artist Vivian Torrence.<ref name=NYT/><ref name=King/>

===Plays===
He co-authored with [[Carl Djerassi]] the play ''Oxygen'', about the [[discovery (observation)|discovery]] of [[oxygen]] and the experience of being a scientist. Hoffman's play, "Should've" (2006) about ethics in science and art, has been produced in workshops, as has a play based on his experiences in the holocaust, "We Have Something That Belongs to You" (2009), later retitled "Something That Belongs to You.<ref name=Magda/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/something-belongs-you|title=Something That Belongs To You|website=www.roaldhoffmann.com|access-date=2019-06-12|archive-date=July 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701083139/http://roaldhoffmann.com/something-belongs-you|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Honors and awards==
[[File:Roald Hoffmann HD2006 AIC Gold Medal.JPG|thumb|right | Roald Hoffmann with the AIC Gold Medal]]

===Nobel Prize in Chemistry===
In 1981, Hoffmann received the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]], which he shared with [[Kenichi Fukui]] "for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions".<ref name="Nobel">[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1981/ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1981] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322235842/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1981/ |date=March 22, 2018 }}. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved on April 2, 2014.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chem.cornell.edu/faculty/index.asp?fac=32 |title=Roald Hoffmann |access-date=2012-11-20 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422060802/http://www.chem.cornell.edu/faculty/index.asp?fac=32 |archive-date=April 22, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}. Cornell Chemistry Faculty Research</ref>

===Other awards===
Hoffmann has won many other awards,<ref name=NNDB/> and is the recipient of more than 25 honorary degrees.<ref name=Ziabari>{{cite web|last1=Ziabari|first1=Kourosh|title=I Heard On Radio That I Was Awarded The Nobel Prize : Prof. Roald Hoffmann|url=http://www.countercurrents.org/ziabari021112.htm|website=Counter Currents|date=12 October 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923222724/http://www.countercurrents.org/ziabari021112.htm|archive-date=September 23, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

*[[ACS Award in Pure Chemistry]], 1969<ref name=ACSPC>{{cite web|title=ACS Award in Pure Chemistry|url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/acs-award-in-pure-chemistry.html|website=ACS Chemistry for Life|publisher=American Chemical Society|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405121808/https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/acs-award-in-pure-chemistry.html|archive-date=April 5, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> <!-- Organic Chemistry Award (American Chemical Society), 1969 -->
* Award of the [[International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science]], 1970, "pour sa methode de calcul des fonctions d'onde moleculaires et pour ses etudes theoriques des reactions chimiques"<ref name=Quantum>{{cite web|title=Award Winners|url=http://www.iaqms.org/awards.php|website=International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908112331/http://www.iaqms.org/awards.php|archive-date=September 8, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected 1971<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Professor Roald Hoffmann|url=https://www.amacad.org/content/system/search.aspx?s=Hoffmann|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409052636/https://www.amacad.org/content/system/search.aspx?s=Hoffmann|archive-date=April 9, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Elected member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]], elected 1972<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/54497.html|title=Roald Hoffmann|website=www.nasonline.org|access-date=May 9, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629140143/http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/54497.html|archive-date=June 29, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*[[Arthur C. Cope Award]] in Organic Chemistry, 1973 (with [[Robert Burns Woodward|Robert B. Woodward]])<ref name=ACSACCA>{{cite web|title=Arthur C. Cope Award|url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/arthur-c-cope-award.html|website=ACS Chemistry for Life|publisher=American Chemical Society|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407065344/https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/arthur-c-cope-award.html|archive-date=April 7, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]], 1981<ref name="Nobel"/>
*Inorganic Chemistry Award (American Chemical Society), 1982 (sponsored by Monsanto)<ref name=ACSAIOCA>{{cite web|title=ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry|url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/acs-award-in-inorganic-chemistry.html|website=ACS Chemistry for Life|publisher=American Chemical Society|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407065342/https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/acs-award-in-inorganic-chemistry.html|archive-date=April 7, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*[[National Medal of Science]], 1983<ref name=Sloan>{{cite web|title=Print National Medal of Science Winners|url=http://www.sloan.org/sloan-research-fellowships/national-medal-of-science-winners/|website=Alfred P. Sloan Foundation|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320035302/http://www.sloan.org/sloan-research-fellowships/national-medal-of-science-winners/|archive-date=March 20, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=NationalMedal>{{cite web|title=Roald Hoffmann (1937– )|url=https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/medalofscience50/hoffmann.jsp|website=National Medal of Science 50th Anniversary|publisher=National Science Foundation|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418214343/http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/medalofscience50/hoffmann.jsp|archive-date=April 18, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Fellow of the American Philosophical Society, elected 1984<ref name=NNDB>{{cite web|title=Roald Hoffmann|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/653/000100353/|website=NNDB Tracking the Entire World|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227172648/http://www.nndb.com/people/653/000100353/|archive-date=December 27, 2014|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* Elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1984|Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1984]]<ref name=formemrs/><ref name=RSFM>{{cite web|title=Foreign Members|url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/fellowship/foreign-members/|website=The Royal Society|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712011053/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/fellowship/foreign-members/|archive-date=July 12, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Foreign Member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]], elected 1985<ref name=NNDB/><ref name=RSAS>{{cite web|title=Roald Hoffmann|url=http://www.kva.se/en/contact/Kontakt-sida/?personId=648|website=Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien|publisher=Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408034038/http://www.kva.se/en/contact/Kontakt-sida/?personId=648|archive-date=April 8, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Foreign Member of the [[Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters]], elected 1988<ref>{{Cite book |title=SPHINX Yearbook 2022-2023 |publisher=Societas Scientiarum Fennica |year=2023 |location=Helsinki |pages=331}}</ref>
*[[Priestley Medal]], 1990<ref name=King>{{cite news|last1=King|first1=Julia|title=Nobelist Roald Hoffmann: Chemist, Poet, Above All A Teacher|url=http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10792/title/Nobelist-Roald-Hoffmann--Chemist--Poet--Above-All-A-Teacher/|access-date=20 March 2015|work=The Scientist|date=December 11, 1989|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402190206/http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view%2FarticleNo%2F10792%2Ftitle%2FNobelist-Roald-Hoffmann--Chemist--Poet--Above-All-A-Teacher%2F|archive-date=April 2, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Harvard Centennial Medalist, 1994<ref name=GSASCM>{{cite web|title=GSAS Centennial Medalists|url=https://www.gsas.harvard.edu/alumni/gsas_centennial_medalists.php|website=Graduate School of Arts and Sciences|publisher=Harvard University|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409102531/https://www.gsas.harvard.edu/alumni/gsas_centennial_medalists.php|archive-date=April 9, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Pimentel Award in Chemical Education, 1996<ref name=A202>{{cite journal|last1=Hoffmann|first1=Roald|title=Teach to Search: ACS 1996 Pimentel Award|journal=Journal of Chemical Education|date=September 1996|volume=73|issue=9|pages=A202|doi=10.1021/ed073pA202|bibcode=1996JChEd..73A.202H|doi-access=free}}</ref>
*[[Elizabeth A. Wood|E.A. Wood]] Science Writing Award, 1997<ref name=abrahams>{{cite web|last1=Abrahams|first1=Sidney|title=Elizabeth Armstrong Wood (1912-2006)|url=http://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-14/number-4/elizabeth-armstrong-wood-1912-2007|access-date=11 November 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010030/http://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-14/number-4/elizabeth-armstrong-wood-1912-2007|archive-date=March 5, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Literaturpreis of the Verband der Chemischen Industrie for his textbook ''The Same and Not The Same'', 1997<ref name=Koch>{{cite web|last1=Koch|first1=Wolfram|title=Theaterdonner auf dem Chemiker-Kongress|url=http://www.djerassi.com/german17/index.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402153616/http://djerassi.com/german17/index.html|archive-date=April 2, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*[[Kolos Medal]], 1998<ref name=Kolos>{{cite web|title=Kolos Medal Laureates|url=http://www.chem.uw.edu.pl/people/AMyslinski/Kolos/recipients.html|website=Warsaw University|publisher=Faculty of Chemistry|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119223910/http://www.chem.uw.edu.pl/people/AMyslinski/Kolos/recipients.html|archive-date=January 19, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*[[American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal]], 2006<ref name=CHFAIC>{{cite web|title=American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/american-institute-of-chemists-gold-medal|website=Science History Institute|access-date=20 March 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202071752/https://www.sciencehistory.org/american-institute-of-chemists-gold-medal|archive-date=February 2, 2018|df=mdy-all|date=2016-05-31}}</ref>
*[[James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry]], 2009<ref name=Grady-Stack>{{cite web|title=Chemist and writer Roald Hoffmann wins Grady-Stack Award for science journalism|url=http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2009/march/chemist-and-writer-roald-hoffmann-wins-grady-stack-award-for-science-journalism.html|website=ACS Chemistry for Life|publisher=American Chemical Society|access-date=March 22, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407123259/http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2009/march/chemist-and-writer-roald-hoffmann-wins-grady-stack-award-for-science-journalism.html|archive-date=April 7, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Fellow of the American Chemical Society, 2009<ref name=ACSFellows>{{cite web|title=ACS Fellows|url=http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/fellows/list-of-2009-acs-fellows.html|website=ACS Chemistry for Life|publisher=American Chemical Society|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407190323/http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/fellows/list-of-2009-acs-fellows.html|archive-date=April 7, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Fellow of the [[Kosciuszko Foundation]] of Eminent Scientists of Polish Origin and Ancestry, 2014<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thekf.org/kf/programs/eminentscientists/|title=Kosciuszko Foundation - American Center of Polish culture - Eminent Scientists of Polish Origin and Ancestry|website=www.thekf.org|access-date=May 9, 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509145002/https://www.thekf.org/kf/programs/eminentscientists/|archive-date=May 9, 2018|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* [[Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture]], [[Science History Institute]], 2019<ref>{{cite journal |title=NOVEMBER MEETINGTHE ULLYOT PUBLIC AFFAIRS LECTUREPresentation byDr. Roald HoffmannCornell UniversityThe Same and Not the Same:The Many Faces of Diversity in Science and Society |journal=The Catalyst|publisher=Philadelphia Section, ACS |date=2019 |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=139–140 |url=https://phillyacs.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/2019_november_catalyst.pdf |access-date=18 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="Institute">{{cite web|title=Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/ullyot-public-affairs-lecture|publisher=[[Science History Institute]]|access-date=16 February 2019|date=May 31, 2016}}</ref>
*[[Marie Curie Medal]] of the [[Polish Chemical Society]], 2019<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ptchem.pl/pl/honors/winners-of-the-medals-and-ptchem-awards|title=Laureaci Medali i Nagród PTChem |access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/11180774/100_Years_Polish_Chemical_Society/#:~:text=During%20the%20anniversary%20celebrations%2C%20Professor%20Roald%20Hoffmann%20was,Adam%20Mickiewicz%20University%20%28AMU%29%2C%20Poznan%2C%20Poland.%20Figure%206. |title=100 Years Polish Chemical Society |website=chemistryviews.org |author=Vera Koester |date=7 September 2019|access-date=25 April 2023}}</ref>

Hoffmann is a member of the [[International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science]]<ref name=Quantum2>{{cite web|title=Roald Hoffmann|url=http://www.iaqms.org/members/hoffmann.php|website=International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408052450/http://www.iaqms.org/members/hoffmann.php|archive-date=April 8, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and the Board of Sponsors of The [[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]].<ref name=Sponsors>{{cite web|title=Board of Sponsors|url=http://thebulletin.org/board-sponsors-0|website=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325085430/http://thebulletin.org/board-sponsors-0|archive-date=March 25, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In August 2007, the [[American Chemical Society]] held a symposium at its biannual national meeting to honor Hoffmann's 70th birthday.<ref name=Kovac>{{cite book|last1=Kovac|first1=Jeffrey|last2=Weisberg|first2=Michael|title=Roald Hoffmann on the philosophy, art, and science of chemistry|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-975590-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1RpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|access-date=3 April 2015}}</ref>

In 2008, the [[Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities]] awarded him its [[Lichtenberg Medal]].

In August 2017, another symposium was held at the 254th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Washington DC, to honor Hoffmann's 80th birthday.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.rsc.org/cp/2017/08/31/chemical-bonding-and-reactivity-spanning-the-periodic-table-a-symposium-in-honor-of-roald-hoffmann/|title=Chemical Bonding and Reactivity Spanning the Periodic Table: A Symposium in Honor of Roald Hoffmann – PCCP Blog|website=blogs.rsc.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-09-12|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912192401/http://blogs.rsc.org/cp/2017/08/31/chemical-bonding-and-reactivity-spanning-the-periodic-table-a-symposium-in-honor-of-roald-hoffmann/|archive-date=September 12, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

The [[Hoffmann Institute of Advanced Materials]] in Shenzhen, named after him, was founded in his honor in February 2018<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ten Nobel prize-winning laboratories tell you: why do top scientists favor Shenzhen?|url=http://www.yidianzixun.com/article/0IK2xr28}}</ref> and formally opened in his presence in May 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Inauguration Ceremony of Hoffmann Institute of Advanced Materials and International Symposium on Advanced Functional Materials held at Shenzhen Polytechnic|url=http://edu.gd.gov.cn/zxzx/gdjy/content/post_2470829.html|access-date=2021-06-18|website=edu.gd.gov.cn|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624202116/http://edu.gd.gov.cn/zxzx/gdjy/content/post_2470829.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2023, Roald Hoffmann was named by [[Carnegie Corporation of New York]] as an honoree of the [[Great Immigrants Award|Great Immigrants Awards]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Great Immigrants Awards: Roald Hoffmann |url=https://www.carnegie.org/awards/honoree/roald-hoffmann/}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Nobelprize|name=Roald Hoffmann}}
{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1976–2000}}
{{1981 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Winners of the National Medal of Science|chemistry}}

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