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Mark Ratner (Northwestern University)
Nano 201: A Gentle Introduction to Nanotechnology and Nanoscience
Watch the talk (running time 49:59)
While the Greek root nano just means dwarf, the nanoscale has become a giant focus of contemporary science and technology. We will examine the fundamental issues underlying the excitement involved in nanoscale research — what, why and how. Specific topics include assembly, properties, applications and societal issues. The talk will have a pronounced Midwestern view, and will (I hope) include a good deal of discussion.
Mark Ratner is Morrison Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at NU. Ratner is interested in structure and function at the nanoscale, and the theory of fundamental chemical processes. He tries to bring together structure and function in molecular nanostructures, based on theoretical notions, on exemplary calculations, and (very importantly) on collaborations with experimentalists and other theorists, in the US and around the world. Some areas of interest are molecular electronics, electron transfer, self-assembly, nonlinear response in molecules, and theories of quantum dynamics. In the interstices, he spends as much time trout fishing as he possibly can.
Ratner is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. He has received the Langmuir Award from the American Chemical Society and the Feynman Award from the Foresight Institute. He also has also been a member of the Faculty Teaching Honor Roll at Northwestern eleven times, and has taught roughly five thousand students in General Chemistry in the last dozen years.
He received his BA and PhD from Harvard and NU, respectively.
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