Egbert (Bert) Willem Meijer (born 1955 in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

) is a Dutch organic chemist, known for his work in the fields of

supramolecular chemistry Supramolecular chemistry refers to the branch of chemistry concerning chemical systems composed of a discrete number of molecules. The strength of the forces responsible for spatial organization of the system range from weak intermolecular forces ...

, materials chemistry and

polymer chemistry Polymer chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that focuses on the structures of chemicals, chemical synthesis, and chemical and physical properties of polymers and macromolecules. The principles and methods used within polymer chemistry are ...

. Meijer, who is distinguished professor of Molecular Sciences at

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

(TU/e) and Academy Professor of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

, is considered one of the founders of the field of supramolecular polymer chemistry. Meijer is a prolific author, sought-after academic lecturer and recipient of multiple awards in the fields of organic and polymer chemistry.

Education

After attending secondary school in

Appingedam Appingedam (; gos, n Daam) is a city and former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. Although there is no certainty as to the exact age of Appingedam, historical research demonstrates that the place in which the city would eventually b ...

where he graduated in 1972, Meijer received his education in

Organic Chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

. He obtained his MSc degree in 1978, and subsequently his PhD degree under supervision of Professor Hans Wijnberg in 1982. Meijer graduated summa cum laude with his thesis on 'Chemiluminescence in action: syntheses, properties, and applications of 1,2-dioxetanes'.

Career

Meijer started his career in 1982 at the

Philips Research Laboratories Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

in Eindhoven as a research scientist in Molecular Materials. In 1989 he moved to

DSM DSM or dsm may refer to: Science and technology * Deep space maneuver * Design structure matrix or dependency structure matrix, a representation of a system or project * Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ** DSM-5, the fifth ed ...

Research in Geleen to become head of the department for New Materials. In 1991 Meijer was installed as full professor of Organic Chemistry at the department for Chemistry & Chemical Engineering of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and in 1999 at the department for Biomedical Engineering at the same university. Since 2004 Bert Meijer is a distinguished university professor of Molecular Sciences at TU/e, where he founded the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and served as its Scientific Director from 2008 until 2018. Meijer is adjunct professor of Macromolecular Chemistry at

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...

since 1994 and distinguished visiting professor at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

since 2008. In 2014 Bert Meijer was inducted as Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Contributions to research

Meijer's research focuses on supramolecular systems with special properties and functions. It's founded on the principles of synthetic and

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

to find solutions to challenges in materials science and life sciences. Meijer is recognized as a pioneer in the field of supramolecular materials, being one of the first chemists to explore and develop functional supramolecular polymers as a new class of materials. Via advanced molecular design and synthesis he has realized systems in which monomeric units self-assemble into long supramolecular polymeric chains, resulting in materials displaying unique dynamic properties that were thought to be exclusively reserved for

macromolecule A macromolecule is a very large molecule important to biophysical processes, such as a protein or nucleic acid. It is composed of thousands of covalently bonded atoms. Many macromolecules are polymers of smaller molecules called monomers. The ...

s. His new class of supramolecular structures thus led to an adjusted definition of Staudinger’s description of what

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

s are. Meijer's career took off with breakthrough results in

dendrimer Dendrimers are highly ordered, branched polymeric molecules. Synonymous terms for dendrimer include arborols and cascade molecules. Typically, dendrimers are symmetric about the core, and often adopt a spherical three-dimensional morphology. The ...

chemistry including a dendritic box and super- amphiphiles (being the first examples of

polymersome In biotechnology, polymersomesDischer B M; Won Y Y; Ege D S; Lee J C; Bates F S; Discher D E; Hammer D A ''Science'' (1999), ''284''(5417), 1143-6. are a class of artificial vesicles, tiny hollow spheres that enclose a solution. Polymersomes are ma ...

s). He synthesized poly(propylene imine) dendrimers that are now produced at commercially relevant quantities (at multiple kilogram scale) worldwide. His dendrimers form the basic compound of a

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

binder currently used in the clinic. Meijer also developed novel semiconducting polymers with high electron mobilities. His exploration of the combination of

chirality Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable from ...

and

mesoscopic Mesoscopic physics is a subdiscipline of condensed matter physics that deals with materials of an intermediate size. These materials range in size between the nanoscale for a quantity of atoms (such as a molecule) and of materials measuring micr ...

morphology in these polymers led to the fabrication of an

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

that emits circularly polarized light. Many years later the insights into chiral semiconductors were used to optimize the

water splitting Water splitting is the chemical reaction in which water is broken down into oxygen and hydrogen: :2 H2O → 2 H2 + O2 Efficient and economical water splitting would be a technological breakthrough that could underpin a hydrogen economy, base ...

in a photoelectrochemical cell. Meijer's discovery of ureidopyrimidinone-based supramolecular polymers is a landmark in supramolecular chemistry. He designed a simple quadruple hydrogen-bonded building block that is self-complementary and exhibits a very large

association constant The binding constant, or affinity constant/association constant, is a special case of the equilibrium constant ''K'', and is the inverse of the dissociation constant. It is associated with the binding and unbinding reaction of receptor (R) and li ...

. Bringing two of these units together with a spacer resulted in a supramolecular polymer with unprecedented properties. Depending on the conditions applied it on the one hand it possess all the properties of macromolecules, both in solution and solid state, while on the other hand it displays the dynamic nature of organic molecules tied together via non-covalent bonds. Today, the concept of supramolecular polymers is investigated in many international academic and industrial laboratories. The Meijer lab has successfully started the company SupraPolix, offering a supramolecular polymer platform as a key component in several applications, including glue (as superflow

elastomer An elastomer is a polymer with viscoelasticity (i.e. both viscosity and elasticity) and with weak intermolecular forces, generally low Young's modulus and high failure strain compared with other materials. The term, a portmanteau of ''elastic p ...

s), cosmetics and regenerative medicine of heart valves, for which

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

s are underway by the Dutch/Swiss company Xeltis. Following up on his discovery Meijer has unraveled the mechanisms behind chemical

self-assembly Self-assembly is a process in which a disordered system of pre-existing components forms an organized structure or pattern as a consequence of specific, local interactions among the components themselves, without external direction. When the ...

and has proven that supramolecular polymerizations can be classified, based on their mechanism, in a way similar to conventional

polymerization In polymer chemistry, polymerization (American English), or polymerisation (British English), is a process of reacting monomer, monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks. There are ...

s. Current research in the Meijer lab focuses on complex multi-component supramolecular polymer systems and their assembly behaviour Also the potential use of supramolecular polymers is explored as

mimics Materialise Mimics is an image processing software for 3D design and modeling, developed by Materialise NV, a Belgian company specialized in additive manufacturing software and technology for medical, dental and additive manufacturing industries ...

biological tissue In biology, tissue is a biological organizational level between cells and a complete organ. A tissue is an ensemble of similar cells and their extracellular matrix from the same origin that together carry out a specific function. Organs are ...

using a modular approach that allows for easy adjustment of their dynamics to external stimuli.

Achievements and awards

Scientific output and research management

Meijer has published over 600 peer reviewed research articles and reviews which have been cited more than 60.000 times, yielding him an H-index of well over 11

He guided 95 PhD students and more than 25 of his former group members now hold tenured academic professorships worldwide. Meijer has over 20 patents and co-founded the companies SyMO-Chem, a professional contract research company (2000) and SupraPolix, focusing on supramolecular polymers (2003). Since 2006 Meijer is the chairman of the International Scientific Advisory Board of DSM, in 2008 he founded the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems at Eindhoven University of Technology, and he chairs the 27 million euro national Dutch research program into 'Functional Molecular Systems' since 2012. In 2017 Meijer was appointed member of the Board of Trustees of

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

. Meijer also serves as member of advisory or editorial boards of over 10 scientific journals, including

Advanced Materials ''Advanced Materials'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering materials science. It includes communications, reviews, and feature articles on topics in chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, ceramics, metallurgy, and biomaterial ...

(since 1992),

Angewandte Chemie ''Angewandte Chemie'' (, meaning "Applied Chemistry") is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by Wiley-VCH on behalf of the German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker). Publishing formats include feature-length ...

(since 1998),

Chemical Science Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties ...

(since 2010) and the

Journal of the American Chemical Society The ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the ''Journal of Analytical ...

(since 2010). ''Academic invitations and memberships'' Meijer has obtained visiting professorships and was invited to named lectureships at many universities. He was visiting professor at the universities of Leuven, Belgium (1995), Illinois (1998), Bordeaux (2007), Zhejiang (2008) and California, Santa Barbara (2008). He currently is a Humboldt visiting professor at the Free University Berlin (until 2024). He has been, amongst others, Bayer distinguished lecturer (Cornell, New York, 1998), Glaxo-Wellcome lecturer (Sheffield, 1998), Rohm & Haas lecturer (Berkeley, 2002), Xerox Distinguished Lecturer of Canada (Toronto and Montreal, 2004), Melville Lecturer (Cambridge University, 2006) Mordecai and Rivka Rubin Lecturer (Technion, Israel, 2015), Aldrich Lecturer (Stanford University, USA, 2015) and Eastman Lecturer (North Carolina, 2016). He gave the Van ‘t Hoff Centennial lecture at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001, the Carothers Lecture at Dupont Wilmington in 2005 and provided the keynote science lecture at Lowlands University 2009, as part of the Lowlands music- and culture festival (Flevopolder, The Netherlands). In 2019, he was the Saul Winstein Lecturer at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and he is the 2020 Robert Robinson lecturer at the University of Oxford. Meijer is an elected member of the

(KNAW, since 2003) and the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW, since 1997), the Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften since 2012), the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste (since 2014), and the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

(since 2012). He is Honorary Fellow of the

Chemical Research Society of India Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) is an India based scientific society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, professio ...

(since 2012) and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (since 2015). Meijer is furthermore elected as an Honorary Member of the

Royal Netherlands Chemical Society The Royal Netherlands Chemical Society (In Dutch: ''Koninklijke Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging'', abbreviated: KNCV) is a learned society and professional association founded in 1903 to represent the interests of chemists and chemical engineers ...

(KNCV, since 2018). In 2019, he was elected as a member of the

European Academy of Sciences European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and as International Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

Awards

Meijer has received numerous prominent awards, including the Gold Medal of the

(1993), the Spinoza Award of the

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course o ...

(2001), the ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry (2006) and the

AkzoNobel Akzo Nobel N.V., stylized as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, ...

Science Award (2010). In 2010 he received an ERC Advanced Research Grant and he was awarded the Wheland Medal of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

and the International Award of the Society of Polymer Science of Japan. In 2012 the ACS presented him the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award. In 2013 Meijer held the

Solvay Solvay may refer to: Companies and organizations * Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Brussels, Belgium * Solvay Conference, founded by Ernest Solvay, deals with open questions in physics and chemistry * Solvay Indupa, an Argen ...

International Chair in Chemistry, and in 2014 he won the Belgium Polymer Group Award and the Prelog Medal of

ETH Zürich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

. That same year he received the Academy Professor Prize of the Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences appointed as a lifetime achievement award. In 2017 Meijer was installed Doctorem Honoris Causa at the

University of Mons The University of Mons (french: Université de Mons) is a Belgian university located in the city of Mons, founded in 2009 by merging the Engineering Faculty of Mons (FPMs) and the University of Mons-Hainaut. The merging of the institutions w ...

(Belgium) and awarded the Forschungspreis of the

Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Resear ...

(Germany) and the Nagoya Gold Medal Award in Organic Chemistry (Japan). In 2018, he was awarded a second ERC Advanced Research Grant and the

Chirality Medal The Chirality Medal, instituted by the Società Chimica Italiana in 1991 to honor internationally recognized scientists who have made a distinguished contribution to all aspects of chirality, is awarded each year by a Chirality Medal Honor Committ ...

of the

Società Chimica Italiana The Italian Chemical Society ( it, Società Chimica Italiana) is the national association in Italy representing the chemical sciences. Its main aim is to promote and support the development of chemistry and scientific research, spreading the knowle ...

(Princeton, 2018). In 2019, Bert Meijer was installed Doctorem Honoris Causa at the

Free University Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in poli ...

. In 2020, he received the title of Commander of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

, the prestigious Dutch

order of chivalry An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order (distinction), order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic Military order (religious society), military orders of the ...

founded by King William I in 1815. On September 12, 2022, the German Chemical Society GDCh presented him the Hermann Staudinger Prize 2022 for his 'outstanding and creative contributions to the field of supramolecular polymer chemistry'.

Personal life

Meijer was born in 1955 as the oldest son of Roelof Meijer and Winy Meijer–de Wit (both civil servants). In 1979 he married Iektje Oosterbeek with whom he has two sons: Roger Meijer (1985), CTO at Paylogic in Amsterdam, and Wieger Meijer (1988), who is an architect in Sydney, Australia.

References

External links

Meijer Research Group

Institute for Complex Molecular Systems

Bert Meijer profile at TU/e
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meijer, Bert 1955 births Living people 20th-century Dutch chemists Academic staff of the Eindhoven University of Technology Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Scientists from Groningen (city) Spinoza Prize winners University of Groningen alumni 21st-century Dutch chemists