Fraser Stoddart Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Bio/Wiki
Full Name	James Fraser Stoddart
Title Name	Sir J. Fraser Stoddart
Other Name	J. Fraser
Profession(s)	• Chemist • Professor
Famous for	Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 2016
Physical Stats & More
Eye Colour	Blue
Hair Colour	Grey (semi-bald)
Chemistry
Field(s)	• Physical Chemistry • Organic Chemistry • Lock-and-Key Chemistry • Unnatural Product Synthesis • Molecular Nanotechnology • Supramolecular chemistry
Institution(s)	• 1967-1969: Queen's University • 1970-1990: University of Sheffield • 1978-1981: ICI Corporate Laboratory, Runcorn • 1990-1997: University of Birmingham • 1997-2007: University of California, Los Angeles • 2008-present: Northwestern University • 2014-present: Tianjin University • 2018-present: University of New South Wales • 2023-present: University of Hong Kong
Thesis	• PhD: Studies on plant gums of the Acacia group • DSc: Some adventures in stereochemistry
Doctoral advisor(s)	• Edmund Langley Hirst • Douglas M W Anderson
Notable students	• David Leigh • Narayanaswamy Jayaraman • Douglas Philp
Professional Societies (Member Since)	• 1965: The Royal Society of Chemistry (The Chemical Society) • 1971: The American Chemical Society • 1994: The Royal Society of London • 1994-1997: The Royal Institution of Great Britain • 1999: Germany Academy of Natural Sciences, Leopoldina • 2005: The American Association for the Advancement of Science • 2006: The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences • 2007: Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor • 2008: The Royal Society of Edinburgh • 2012: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences • 2014: The National Academy of Sciences • 2017: The EU Academy of Sciences • 2018: The Chinese Academy of Sciences • 2018: The Royal Society of New South Wales • 2018: The European Academy of Science and Arts • 2020: The Indian Chemical Society • 2021: The Australian Academy of Science
Awards, Honours, Achievements	Honorary Fellowship • 1986-1987: Leverhulme Research Fellowship • 1988-1989: Leverhulme Research Fellowship • 1998: Humboldt Fellowship • 2018-2019: Chemistry Europe Fellowship • 2019: Fellowship of the National Academy of Inventors Honorary Professorship • 2005: Carnegie Centenary Professorship at the Universities of Scotland • 2005, 2017: East China University of Science and Technology • 2013: Jilin University in Changchun, China • 2018: Fudan University in Shanghai, China • 2018: Beijing Institute of Technology in Beijing, China • 2018: Yang Shixian Honorary Professorship (Nankai University) • 2019: UST Honorary Chair Professor at the University System of Taiwan Honorary Degrees • 2005: Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) Degree by University of Birmingham • 2006: Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) Degree by University of Twente • 2008: Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) Degree by University of Sheffield • 2009: Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) Degree by Trinity College, Dublin • 2010: Honorary Doctor of Science Degree by St Andrews University • 2017: Honorary Doctor of Science Degree by University of Nottingham • 2018: Doctor Degree Honoris Causa by University Autonoma Madrid • 2018: Honorary Doctor of Medicine Degree by Yerevan State Medical University • 2018: Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) Degree by University of Southern Denmark • 2019: Honorary Doctor Degree by University of Brasilia • 2019: Honorary Doctor Degree by Hong Kong Baptist University • 2023: Honorary Doctorate by University of Barcelona Others • 1993: International Izatt-Christensen Award in Macrocyclic Chemistry • 1994: Chaire Bruylants Award (University of Louvaine-La-Neuve, Belgium) • 1995: Adolf Steinhofer Foundation Award (University of Kaiserslautern, Germany) • 1999: Arthur C Cope Scholar Award (American Chemical Society) • 2001: Herbert Newby McCoy Award (UCLA) • 2004: Nagoya Gold Medal in Organic Chemistry • 2005: American Chemical Society PMSE Division Arthur K Doolittle Award • 2005: University of Edinburgh Alumnus of the Year 2005 Award • 2006: Mack Memorial Award by Ohio State University • 2006: Fuson Award by University of Nevada • 2007: King Faisal International Prize in Science • 2007: Jabir Ibn Hyyan (Geber) Medal by Saudi Chemical Society • 2007: Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry • 2007: Albert Einstein World Prize in Science by World Cultural Council • 2007: Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Experimental) • 2007: Appointed Knight Bachelor by HM Queen Elizabeth II • 2008: Arthur C Cope Award by American Chemical Society • 2008: Davy Medal of the Royal Society of London • 2010: ISNSCE Award (FNANO2010) • 2010: Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh • 2010: Undergraduate Chemistry Council Teacher of the Year by Northwestern University • 2012: Distinguished Citizen Award by Illinois St Andrews Society • 2013: IChemE North America Chemical Engineering Project of the Year Award • 2014: Centenary Prize by Royal Society of Chemistry • 2016: Alan G MacDiarmid Medal by University of Pennsylvania • 2016: Nobel Prize in Chemistry by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences • 2017: SAFEA International Teacher of the Year by Peking University • 2017: Great Immigrants for 2017 by Carnegie Corporation of New York • 2017: Scottish Innovation Award by Baird of Bute Society • 2017: Second Netherlands Award in Supramolecular Chemistry • 2019: Science and Technology Cooperative Award by Chinese Government • 2022: STEM Leadership Award for Propelling Science (CME / NASA)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	24 May 1942 (Sunday)
Age (as of 2024)	82 Years
Birthplace	Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Zodiac sign	Gemini
Nationality	British
Citizenship	• United Kingdom (UK) • United States of America (USA)
Hometown	Edinburgh
School	• A local village school in Carrington, Midlothian, Scotland, UK (1946-1950) • Stewart's Melville College, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (1950-1960)
College/University	• Edinburgh University, Scotland, UK (1960-1964) • Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada • University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Educational Qualification(s)	• B.Sc. (1964) and Ph.D. (1966) degrees from Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK • Postdoctoral Fellow, Queen’s University (Canada) • DSc degree from Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK • Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Research Fellow, Sheffield University
Religion	Christianity
Ethnicity	White British
Address	2720 Noyes Street, Evanston, IL 60201-2072, USA
Food Habit	Non-vegetarian
Hobbies	• Travelling • Swimming
Controversy	Dispute over patents In September 2020, Fraser Stoddart and Northwestern University (NU) filed a lawsuit against Youssry Botros, chief technology officer of the PanaceaNano, a California-based startup that produces skincare products. Stoddart and NU claimed that the products of the startup are based on their research but Botros have not included their names in the patents of the products due to which they have suffered loss in revenue. [1]Crain's Chicago Business Botros replied back by saying that though he did attend the courses at the laboratory of Stoddart in NU, he only used basic chemical formulas to develop the products. Botros also asked the court to examine the constituents and production methos of the products to verify his claims. The court setup a committee to check the necessary details about the procedures and put Stoddart's and NU's request for name inclusion in patents on hold.
Social Media	• Twitter
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Widower
Affairs/Girlfriends	Norma Agnes Scholan
Marriage Date	8 October 1968
Family
Wife/Spouse	Norma Agnes Scholan (Scientist; died on 12 January 2004)
Children	Daughter(s)- 2 • Fiona (born 1973, married to Quentin McCubbin) • Alison (born 1976)
Parents	Father- Thomas Fraser Stoddart Mother- Jane Spalding Hislop Fortune
Siblings	He is the only child of his parents.

Some Lesser Known Facts About Fraser Stoddart

• When he was born, he was very weak. The doctor had said that there was a 50% chance that he would live, but he survived.

• He grew up on Edgelaw Farm where he lived without electricity till the age of 18.

• During his teenage years, he worked at the farm with his father and used to look after the cows and sheep. He also used to fish at the lake on the farm.
  

  Fraser Stoddart fishing during his childhood days

• He took piano lessons during his school days but later stopped as could not learn according to his expectations. He later played hockey for his school team.
  

  Fraser Stoddart during his school days

• He did not belong to a rich family, yet his father bought him a Lambretta scooter when he got his driver’s licence after turning 16 in 1958.
  

  Fraser Stoddart riding his Lambretta scooter

• He met Norma Scholan while pursuing his PhD as she joined the Dr D M W Anderson group as a fourth-year undergraduate research student.

• Stoddart moved to Canada in 1967 to pursue further education.
  

  Fraser Stoddart during his college days

• His wife, Norma, moved to Canada after their marriage in 1968 where she pursued her PhD.

• He studied at Queen’s University in Canada as a postdoctoral fellow and at Sheffield University in England as an Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) research fellow.

• He was once typing Norma’s PhD thesis when the coffee suddenly spilt on the pages. While Norma started crying and later slept after he comforted her, he remained awake for the whole night and retyped the thesis.

• After completing his academics, he joined Sheffield University as a lecturer of Chemistry.

• In 1978, he was a Science Research Council Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

• He was promoted to Readership at the Sheffield University in 1982.

• He moved to the Chair of Organic Chemistry at Birmingham University in 1990 and was appointed head of the School of Chemistry there.

• In February 1992, his wife Norma suffered a brain haemorrhage but her artery self-healed within a few days.
  

  Fraser Stoddart with his daughters and wife (right to left)

• As his wife, Norma, was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 1992 which became metastatic in 1996, he started looking for career opportunities in the USA for better medical facilities of treatment.

• In 1997, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), succeeding Nobel Laureate Donald Cram. He taught students there till 2008.
  

  Fraser Stoddart experimenting in one of his labs

• In 2003, he became the Director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) and worked there till August 2007. In 2008, he moved to Northwestern University as a Board of Trustees Professor in Chemistry.
  

  Fraser Stoddart during a lecture

• The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) predicted him as the likely winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

• From January 1997 to August 2007, the Institute for Scientific Information ranked him as the 3rd most cited chemist.

• The University of Edinburgh established ‘The Fraser and Norma Stoddart Prize’ for PhD students which was given for the first time in 2013.
  

  Fraser Stoddart (left) giving ‘The Fraser and Norma Stoddart Prize’ to one of the recipients

• He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016 along with Jean-Pierre Sauvage and Bernard L. Feringa for their design and production of Molecular Machines. They have developed molecules with controllable movements and these molecules can perform a task when energy is added.
  

  Winners of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

• The then-US President Barack Obama met with Stoddart after he won the Nobel Prize to congratulate him.
  

  Fraser Stoddart, his daughters, Allison and Fiona, and Barack Obama (right to left)

• Many other organisations ranked him as one of the best immigrant scientists in the USA.

• In November 2019, he launched his skincare brand Noble Panacea which included day cream, eye cream, night cream, and serum.
  

  Products of Fraser Stoddart’s skincare brand, Noble Panacea

• In 2021, he co-founded a startup H2MOF with Omar Yaghi and Sameer Taha which works in the field of hydrogen storage.
  

  Sameer Taha, Fraser Stoddart, and Omar Yaghi, (left to right) co-founders of H2MOF

• As of 2022, James Fraser Stoddart has an h-index of 175.

• Stoddart has trained nearly 450 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers during 35 years in his laboratories.
  

  Fraser Stoddart working in the laboratory with his PhD students

• He is known for using Nanomechanical Systems by using Mechanically-Interlocked Molecular Architectures.

• Stoddart has been credited for making molecular machines attractive to chemists.

• His papers and other presentation materials are easily recognized due to his distinctive cartoon style of representation which he has developed since the late 1980s.

• Fraser holds around 20 patents and has published more than 1100 publications.

• His work in Chemistry has changed the way chemists think about Molecular Switches and Machines.

• His daughters are also graduates in Chemistry with First Class Honours degrees. His elder daughter, Fiona, has done her graduation at Imperial College London, and his younger daughter, Alison, has done it at the University of Cambridge.
  

  Fraser Stoddart with his daughters, Fiona (left) and Alison

• He likes to drink wine during parties.
  

  Fraser Stoddart (middle) holding a glass of wine