Nobel Prize winner visits Fiji

2010 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, Professor Akira Suzuki will hold a public seminar at the University of the South Pacific (USP) tomorrow night.

USP Faculty of Science, Technology, and Environment, School of Biological, and Chemical Sciences Senior lecturer in Chemistry Dr David Rohindra said this is probably the first for Fiji and the region to host a Nobel Prize winner.

“This is a very rare opportunity for the present and future chemists of Fiji,” said Dr Rohindra.

Professor Suzuki was awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize award by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

His work on the cross-coupling reaction of an organic boron compound using palladium as a catalyst has grown as a field with profound impact on catalytic chemistry and material science as well as synthetic chemistry.

Since then he has developed a new research topic globally recognised as the “Suzuki coupling reaction”.

The reaction allows extensive universality and practicality, and has been used for the synthesis of many biologically active natural products, including pharmaceutical preparation.

A native of Hokkaido Japan, Professor Suzuki, who has also worked in the U.K., China, and Taiwan, has spoken on the importance of international academic cooperation and foreign study to many students around the globe.

His public lecture is titled  “Receiving Nobel Prize in Chemistry” and participants will be able to hear his first hand experience in Chemistry and how far they can go on if they choose to stick with the subject.

A separate lecture for high school students will be held on August 9.

By Ropate Valemei