Michael O’Keeffe (born April 3, 1934) is a British-American chemist. He is currently Regents’ Professor Emeritus in the School of Molecular Sciences at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. As a scientist, he is particularly known for his contributions to the field of reticular chemistry. In 2019, he received the

Gregori Aminoff Prize The Gregori Aminoff Prize is an international prize awarded since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of crystallography, rewarding "a documented, individual contribution in the field of crystallography, including areas conce ...

Crystallography Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wor ...

from the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

Early life and education

Michael O’Keeffe was born in

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

Suffolk, England Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, on the 3rd April, 1934. He was one of four children born to Dr. E. Joseph O’Keeffe, an immigrant from Ireland, and his mother Marjorie G. O’Keeffe (née Marten). From 1942 to 1951 he attended

Prior Park College Prior Park College is a Mixed-sex education, mixed Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Public school (United Kingdom), public school for both day and boarding students. Situated on a hill overlooking the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath, Somerset, in s ...

(Bath) and then from 1951 to 1957 the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

: B.Sc. in chemistry (1954), Ph.D. (1958, mentor Frank S. Stone). He spent 1958-1959 at

Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium The Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (English translation: ''Philips Physics Laboratory'') or NatLab was the Dutch section of the Philips research department, which did research for the product divisions of that company. Originally located in the ...

(group of Evert W. Gorter) then did postdoctoral research at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

(mentor Walter J. Moore). 1960-62. He subsequently became a U. S. citizen.

Career

In 1963, he joined

where he is now Regents’ Professor of Chemistry. Early research work was devoted to the study of defects,

conductivity Conductivity may refer to: *Electrical conductivity, a measure of a material's ability to conduct an electric current **Conductivity (electrolytic), the electrical conductivity of an electrolyte in solution **Ionic conductivity (solid state), elec ...

and

diffusion Diffusion is the net movement of anything (for example, atoms, ions, molecules, energy) generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical p ...

in solids, particularly

solid electrolytes In materials science, fast ion conductors are solid conductors with highly mobile ions. These materials are important in the area of solid state ionics, and are also known as solid electrolytes and superionic conductors. These materials are usef ...

. His more recent research is devoted to the theory of periodic structures (nets ( periodic graph (crystallography)), tilings (periodic

tessellations A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane (mathematics), plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to high-dimensional ...

, and weavings (a higher dimensional version of

Braid theory A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair. The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strande ...

)) relevant to development of a

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

of such structures and its application to materials design and description. In collaboration with Omar Yaghi, O’Keeffe developed reticular chemistry, a new branch of chemistry that links molecular fragments of well-defined shapes with strong bonds to build symmetrical open structures such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs),

zeolitic imidazolate frameworks Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are a class of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that are topologically isomorphic with zeolites. ZIF glasses can be synthesized by the melt-quench method, and the first melt-quenched ZIF glass was firstly mad ...

(ZIFs), and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) Together with Olaf Delgado-Friedrichs, he has developed the Reticular Chemistry Structure Resource (RCSR) a compendium of structures relevant to design of materials on the molecular level. O'Keeffe has published three books, including one of the standard monographs on periodic structures, and more than 300 refereed papers. His work is highly cited (over 100,000 citations and h index over 100), and he was third in the Clarivate#Highly Cited Researchers list of Top 100 Chemists, 2000-2010

Honors and awards

Among his honors are: the 2019

( Royal Swedish Academy); the Bernal Distinguished Lecturer,

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it beca ...

, 2017; the World Class Professorship,

KAIST The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, research ...

, Korea, 2013;

Newcomb Cleveland Prize The Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is annually awarded to author(s) of outstanding scientific paper published in the Research Articles or Reports sections of ''Science''. Established in 192 ...

from the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 2007;

Regents' Professor Professors in the United States commonly occupy any of several positions of teaching and research within a college or university. In the U.S., the word "professor" informally refers collectively to the academic ranks of assistant professor, asso ...

, Arizona State University 1994; and D. Sc. “for excellence in published research”

, 1976.

Bibliography

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OKeefe, Michael 1934 births Living people Arizona State University faculty Alumni of the University of Bristol English people of Irish descent People from Bury St Edmunds English emigrants to the United States 21st-century American chemists People educated at Prior Park College 20th-century American chemists Inorganic chemists American crystallographers Solid state chemists British crystallographers

Early life and education

Career

Honors and awards

Bibliography

See also

References