Vincenzo Balzani

Vincenzo Balzani
Born	(1936-11-15) 15 November 1936 Forlimpopoli, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Fields	Photochemistry
Institutions	University of Bologna
Alma mater	University of Bologna

Vincenzo Balzani (born 15 November 1936 in Forlimpopoli, Italy) is an Italian chemist, now emeritus professor at the University of Bologna.

Career

He has spent most of his professional life at the “Giacomo Ciamician” Department of Chemistry of the University of Bologna, becoming full professor in 1973. He has been visiting professor at several universities. He was the director of the Photochemistry and Radiation Chemistry Institute of the National Research Council from 1977 to 1988. He has been appointed emeritus professor on November 1, 2010.

His research interests cover a wide range of topics: photochemistry, photophysics, supramolecular chemistry, electron transfer reactions, molecular-level devices and machines, nanotechnology, photochemical solar energy conversion. His scientific activity is documented by more than 600 papers, mostly published on qualified journals. He has been invited to give lectures at a great number of national and international meetings, and seminars at many Universities and Research Centers around the world. For several years he has been one of the 100 most cited chemists of the world, with H index 101.^[1]

Teaching activity

He taught courses on General and Inorganic Chemistry, Photochemistry, Supramolecular chemistry. He was chairman of the PhD course on Chemical Sciences from 2002 to 2007 and of the “laurea specialistica” in Photochemistry and Material Chemistry from 2004 to 2007. In the Academic Year 2008-2009 he founded at the University of Bologna an interdisciplinary course on Science and Society.

Public education activity

He believes that scientists have a great responsibility that comes from knowledge, so that it is their duty to educate citizens and help decision makers to find solution for mankind's problems. Therefore, he places side by side scientific research and education on various themes including chemistry, science and society, science and peace, and particularly the energy problem. His book Energia per l’Astronave Terra (Zanichelli, 2008, with N. Armaroli) received the 2009 Galileo prize for scientific education. In 2011 he has received the Città di Sasso Marconi prize for public education on the theme of energy.

Other activities

He was chairman of the Gruppo Italiano di Fotochimica (1982–1986) and European Photochemistry Association (1988–92). He is honorary chairman of the International Symposium on "Photochemistry and Photophysics of Coordination Compounds". He is a member of the Editorial Board of several international journals (currently: Chemistry: A European Journal, ChemPhysChem, Small and ChemSusChem).

Associations and academies

He is a member of: American Association for the Advancement of Science; Royal Society of Chemistry; European Academy of Sciences; Academia Europaea; Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei; Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL; Accademia delle Scienze di Torino; Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Napoli; Accademia delle Scienze di Bologna.

Honors and awards

Pacific West Coast Inorganic Lectureship, USA and Canada, 1985; Gold Medal "S. Cannizzaro", Italian Chemical Society, 1988; Doctorate "Honoris Causa", University of Fribourg (CH), 1989; Accademia dei Lincei Award in Chemistry, Italy, 1992; Ziegler-Natta Lecturer, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, Germany, 1994; Italgas European Prize for Research and Innovation, 1994; Centenary Lecturer, The Royal Chemical Society (U.K.), 1995; Porter Medal for Photochemistry, 2000; Prix Franco-Italien de la Société Française de Chimie, 2002; Grande Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, 2006; Quilico Gold Metal, Organic Division, Italian Chemical Society, 2008; Honor Professor, East China University of Science and Technology of Shanghai, 2009; Blaise Pascal Medal, European Academy of Sciences, 2009; Rotary Club Galileo International Prize for scientific research, 2011; Nature Award for Mentoring in Science, 2013.

Publications

Books

• Photochemistry of Coordination Compounds, Academic Press, London, 1970 (with V. Carassiti).
• Supramolecular Photochemistry, Horwood, Chichester, 1991 (with F. Scandola).
• Molecular Devices and Machines. A Journey into the Nano World, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2003 (with A. Credi and M. Venturi), translated in Chinese and Japanese.
• Molecular Devices and Machines. Concepts and Perspectives for the Nanoworld, VCH-Wiley, Weinheim, 2008 (with A. Credi and M. Venturi), translated in Chinese.
• Energy for a Sustainable World – From the Oil Age to a Sun-Powered Future, Wiley-VCH, 2011 (with Nicola Armaroli).
• Powering Planet Earth – Energy Solutions for the Future, Wiley-VCH, 2013 (with Nicola Armaroli and Nick Serpone).
• Photochemistry and Photophysics - Concepts, Research, Applications, Wiley-VCH, 2014 (with Paola Ceroni and Alberto Juris).
• Reading and Writing the Book of Nature, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015 (with Margherita Venturi).

Important papers in scientific journals

• Nicola Armaroli, Vincenzo Balzani: Solar Electricity and Solar Fuels: Status and Perspectives in the Context of the Energy Transition. In: Chemistry – A European Journal (2015), doi:10.1002/chem.201503580.
• Nicola Armaroli, Vincenzo Balzani, Towards an electricity-powered world. In: Energy and Environmental Science 4, (2011), 3193-3222, doi:10.1039/c1ee01249e.
• Nicola Armaroli, Vincenzo Balzani, The Hydrogen Issue. In: ChemSusChem 4, Issue 1, (2011), 21-36, doi:10.1002/cssc.201000182.
• Vincenzo Balzani et al., Photochemical Conversion of Solar Energy. In: ChemSusChem 1, Issue 1-2, (2008), 26-58, doi:10.1002/cssc.200700087.
• Nicola Armaroli, Vincenzo Balzani, The Future of Energy Supply: Challenges and Opportunities. In: Angewandte Chemie 46, (2007), 52–66, doi:10.1002/anie.200602373.
• Vincenzo Balzani et al., Artificial Molecular Machines. In: Angewandte Chemie 39, (2000), 3348-3391, doi:10.1002/1521-3773(20001002)39:19<3348::AID-ANIE3348>3.0.CO;2-X.
• Jovica D. Badjić et al., A Molecular Elevator. In: Science 303, No. 5665, (2004), 1845-1849, doi:10.1126/science.1094791.
• Vincenzo Balzani et al., Molecular Machines. In: Accounts of Chemical Research 31, Issue 7, (1998), 405–414, doi:10.1021/ar970340y.
• Vincenzo Balzani et al., Designing Dendrimers Based on Transition-Metal Complexes. Light-Harvesting Properties and Predetermined Redox Patterns. In: Accounts of Chemical Research 31, Issue 1, (1998), 26–34, doi:10.1021/ar950202d.
• Vincenzo Balzani et al., Luminescent and Redox-Active Polynuclear Transition Metal Complexes. In: Chemical Reviews 96, Issue 2, (1996), 759–834, doi:10.1021/cr941154y.
• Jean-Pierre Sauvage et al., Ruthenium(II) and Osmium(II) Bis(terpyridine) Complexes in Covalently-Linked Multicomponent Systems: Synthesis, Electrochemical Behavior, Absorption Spectra, and Photochemical and Photophysical Properties. In: Chemical Reviews 94, Issue 4, (1994), 993–1019, doi:10.1021/cr00028a006.
• Pier Lucio Anelli, Molecular meccano. 1. [2]Rotaxanes and a [2]catenane made to order. In: Journal of the American Chemical Society 114, Issue 1, (1992), 193–218, doi:10.1021/ja00027a027.
• Vincenzo Balzani, Supramolecular photochemistry. In: Pure and Applied Chemistry 62, Issue 6, (1990), 1099–1102, doi:10.1351/pac199062061099.
• Alberto Juris et al., Ru(II) polypyridine complexes: photophysics, photochemistry, eletrochemistry, and chemiluminescence. In: Coordination Chemistry Reviews 84, (1988), 85–277, doi:10.1016/0010-8545(88)80032-8.

References

External links

• Homepage at the University of Bologna. Accessed 2011-07-19.
• CV, Accessed 2015-09-06.
• List of publications, Accessed 2015-09-06.