Robbins Lectures

Pomona College takes great pleasure in presenting the Robbins Lecture series established by Mr. Robbins to bring to Pomona College distinguished chemists to discuss their current research.

Mr. Robbins’ interest in founding the lectureship came in part from his career as a metallurgical engineer and in part from his interest in creative research which developed in his capacity as Chairman and President of a major specialty steel company.

1962          MELVIN CALVIN            Photosynthesis                                       
1963          PETER DEBYE               The Nature of Molecular Forces                       
1964          DAVID GREEN               Mitochondrion and Membrane Systems                   
1965          FRANCIS CRICK            The Structure of DNA                                 
1966          LINUS PAULING            The Structure of the Nucleus                         
1967          MARSHALL NIRENBERG   Deciphering the Genetic Code                         
1968          JOHN KENDREW            The Structure of Proteins                            
1969          JACQUES MONOD          Molecular Biology and the Kingdom of Ideas           
1970          MANFRED EIGEN            Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules                
1971          GEORGE WALD              Vision                                               
1972          ARTHUR KORNBERG        DNA and Membrane Biochemistry                        
1973          EFRAIM RACKER            Electron Transport Coupled Phosphorylation           
1974          GERALD EDELMAN          Molecular Immunology                                 
1975          JULIUS AXELROD           Neurotransmitters                                    
1976          GEORGE PORTER           Rapid Kinetics                                       
1977          DAVID BALTIMORE         Molecular Genetics                                   
1978          WILLIAM LIPSCOMB       Structure and Mechanisms of Enzymes                  
1979          MAX PERUTZ                Hemoglobin                                           
1980          ROSALYN YALOW          Radioimmunoassay                                     
1981          CHRISTIAN ANFINSEN    Structure and Function of Proteins                   
1982          SYDNEY BRENNER         Genetics of the Nervous System                       
1983          PAUL BERG                  Eucaryotic Gene Expression                           
1984          GABOR SOMORJAI         Surface Science of Catalysis                         
1985          GERALD EDELMAN         Sciences of Recognition                              
1986          ROALD HOFFMAN          Bridging Organic and Inorganic Chemistry             
1987          HERBERT BROWN          Boron in Organic Synthesis                           
1988          JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN &   Revelations from Biochemistry and Human Genetics     
                MICHAEL BROWN                                                                 
1989          JEREMY KNOWLES        Enzymes                                              
1990          YUAN LEE                   Chemical Reaction Dynamics                           
1991          GERTRUDE ELION         Chemotherapy - The Search of Selectivity             
1992          DONALD CRAM             Molecular Recognition in Complexation                
1993          HEINRICH ROHRER        Science for Our Future                               
1994          THOMAS R. CECH         RNA Catalysis                                        
1995          RICHARD N. ZARE         Shedding Light on Chemistry
1996          SHERWOOD ROWLAND   The Chemistry of Earth's Atmosphere   
1997          STUART L. SCHREIBER   Chemical Genetics
1998          RICHARD R. ERNST        Exploring Nature By NMR
1999          GEORGE A. OLAH          Hydrocarbons and Their Chemistry
2000          PAUL S. ANDERSON       Understanding Drug Discovery

2005 Harry B. Gray The Currents of Life: Electron Flow Through Biological Molecules