[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 11, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1484-E1485]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING DR. TOBIN MARKS OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ON RECEIVING THE 
                     2005 NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANIEL LIPINSKI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 11, 2007

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an exceptional 
professor and scientist at Northwestern University, Dr. Tobin J. Marks. 
His pioneering research in the areas of homogenous and heterogeneous 
catalysis, organo-f-element chemistry, new electronic and photonic 
materials, and diverse areas of coordination and solid state chemistry, 
has earned him the 2005 National Medal of Science, the Nation's highest 
award for lifetime achievement in fields of scientific research. As a 
graduate of Northwestern University, I am especially proud to recognize 
his accomplishments and thank him for his years of dedication.
  Dr. Marks, who joined Northwestern in 1970, serves as the Vladimir N. 
Ipatieff Research Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of 
Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. 
He is recognized as a leader in the development and understanding of 
single-site polymerization catalysis, which is now a multi-billion 
dollar industry. He designed a co-catalyst that led to what is now a 
standard process for producing better polyolefins. Found in everything 
from sandwich wrap to long underwear, these versatile and inexpensive 
plastics are lighter in weight and more recyclable than previous 
plastics.
  He also is conducting cutting-edge research of new materials that 
have remarkable electrical, mechanical, interfacial, and photonic 
properties. In his molecular optoelectronics work, Marks designs arrays 
of ``smart'' molecules that will self-assemble into, or spontaneously 
form, structures that can conduct electricity, switch light on and off, 
detect light, and turn sunlight into electricity. These structures 
could lead to the world's most, versatile and stable light-emitting 
diodes, LEDs, and to flexible ``plastic'' transistors.
  During his career, Marks has received numerous honors, including the 
American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal, the John C. Bailar Medal 
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Sir Edward 
Frankland Prize Lectureship of the British Royal Society of Chemistry, 
and the Karl Ziegler Prize of the German Chemical Society. He also is a 
recipient of three American Chemical Society, ACS, national awards and 
the ACS Chicago Section's 2001 Josiah Willard Gibbs Medal, regarded by 
many as the highest award given to chemists next to the Nobel Prize. He 
was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993.
  Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Dr. Tobin Marks for 
his tireless efforts in pioneering scientific research in chemistry. He 
has done nothing less than an extraordinary job in his field and is 
truly deserving of the National Medal of Science. I congratulate Tobin 
for this outstanding honor.

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