Jean-Marie Lehn
French chemist, Nobel laureate
Who is Jean-Marie Lehn?
Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn (born 30 September 1939) is a French chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Donald Cram and Charles Pedersen in 1987 for his synthesis of cryptands. Lehn was born in Rosheim, Alsace, France to Pierre and Marie Lehn. His father was a baker, but because of his interest in music, he later became the city organist. Lehn was an early innovator in the field of supramolecular chemistry, i.e., the chemistry of host–guest molecular assemblies created by intermolecular interactions, and continues to innovate in this field. He described the process by which molecules recognize each other. Drugs, for example, "know" which cell to destroy and which to let live. He has continued to play the organ throughout his professional career as a scientist.
Historical significance
According to information provided by Lehn to the Nobel Foundation in January 2006, his group had published 790 peer-reviewed articles in chemistry literature by then. Lehn also studied music, saying that it became his major interest after science.
