Richard Hadley Holm (September 24, 1933 – February 15, 2021), was an American inorganic chemist.

Biography

A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Holm received his B.S. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1955 and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959 under the direction of F. Albert Cotton.Stanford Chemistry Dept. History 1977–2000: Professors, Brief Biographical Summaries
, Stanford U. As an independent researcher, he joined the chemistry faculty at Harvard University in 1962. He was later on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

prior to returning to Harvard in 1980. He was the Higgins Professor of Chemistry at Harvard.

Research

Holm's research encompassed

synthetic Synthetic things are composed of multiple parts, often with the implication that they are artificial. In particular, 'synthetic' may refer to: Science * Synthetic chemical or compound, produced by the process of chemical synthesis * Synthetic o ...

, structural, and reactivity aspects of transition element chemistry. He was best known for the preparations of the first synthetic analogs of the active sites of

iron-sulfur proteins Iron–sulfur proteins (or iron–sulphur proteins in British spelling) are proteins characterized by the presence of iron–sulfur clusters containing sulfide-linked di-, tri-, and tetrairon centers in variable oxidation states. Iron–sulfur clu ...

. These discoveries were significant in the development of bioinorganic chemistry. He continued his work in the field of iron-sulfur clusters until the end, examining the active sites of the enzymes nitrogenase and

carbon monoxide dehydrogenase In enzymology, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) () is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction :CO + H2O + A \rightleftharpoons CO2 + AH2 The chemical process catalyzed by carbon monoxide dehydrogenase is similar to the water-gas shif ...

. Additionally, his interests included the biomimetic chemistry of

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...

- and tungsten-containing oxo-transferases.

Awards

His accomplishments were honored with numerous awards including the National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences.National Academy of Sciences
NAS Award in Chemical Sciences
, Accessed on October 18, 2007. and the F.A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research of the American Chemical Society in 2005. He was a member of

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the co-recipient of the 2016 Welch Award in Chemistry along with

Stephen J. Lippard Stephen James Lippard (born October 12, 1940) is the Arthur Amos Noyes Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is considered one of the founders of bioinorganic chemistry, studying the interactions of ...

Personal life

Holm met his future wife Florence while he was in college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where they were pen-pals. They married upon her graduation. Holm is survived by his wife, their four children, Sharon, Eric Richard, Christian, and Marg, and five grandchildren.

References

External links

Holm research group
a
Harvard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holm, Richard H. 1933 births 2021 deaths American chemists Scientists from Boston Harvard University faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Stanford University Department of Chemistry faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Place of death missing