Education, degrees, academy memberships:
Eötvös University, Budapest, 1959-1961
Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1961-1965, Master's degree, Chemistry 1965
Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Budapest, Candidate of Science (Ph.D. equivalent) 1971, Doctor of Science 1976
Eötvös University, Budapest, Dr. rer. nat. 1972
Corresponding Member, HAS, 1987, Full Member, 1993
Foreign Member, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, 1988
Dr. honoris causa, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1992, University of North Carolina, 2000, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2004
Member, Academia Europaea (London), 1994
Current position: University Professor, Emeritus, Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
Former positions: Head of the George A. Olah Ph.D. School, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUT), Chair of the Doctoral Council and Habilitation Committee, Faculty of Chemical and Biotechnology, BUT, Member of the Doctoral Council and Habilitation Committee, BUT, Head of "Materials Structure and Modeling" Research Group of HAS
Career summary (selected):
Research Scientist, Senior Scientist, Science Advisor, Department Head, HAS, 1965-2006
Visiting Scientist/Visiting Professor, University of Oslo, 1968, 1975, 1981
Visiting Scientist/Visiting Professor, Department of Physics, University of Texas (UT), Austin, 1969-1970, Department of Chemistry, Summer 1986, Fall 1986, Summers 1987, 1989
Visiting Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut (UConn), Storrs, 1983-84, Visiting Professor of Chemistry, UConn, 1984-85, 1988-89
Visiting Professor of Chemistry, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, 1989, 1993
Professor of Chemistry, BUT, 1991-2011, Head of Institute of General and Analytical Chemistry, Budapest Technical University,1991-96
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW), 1996-97, Springs 1998, 1999
Visiting Scientist, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, Spring 2000
Visiting Scholar, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, Spring 2002
Visiting Fellow, Matrix Biology Institute, Edgewater, NJ, Summers 2007-2015
Career-related activities:
Principal Investigator, HAS-UT, Austin, joint molecular structure research project, 1973-1977
Consultant, Sektion für Strukturdokumentation, Universität Ulm, 1977-1992
Scientific director, International Summer School "Diffraction Studies on
Non-Crystalline Substances", Pécs, Hungary, 1978
Consultant, Commission on Electron Diffraction, IUCr, 1979-1981
Co-director, International School of Crystallography, Erice, Italy, 1985, 2001
Head of Ph.D. Program in Chemistry, BUT, 1993-2000
Chair, Program Committee, Quasicrystals International School, Balatonfüred, 1995
Co-organizer, 1st & 2nd UNCW Symposia on Chemistry and Biochemistry, 197, 1998
Co-organizer, "Symmetry 2000" Symposium, Stockholm, 2000
Co-chair of Workshop "Exploring Hungarian-United States Science & Technology Cooperative Opportunities," Budapest 2006
Current editorial activities:
Editor-in-Chief, Structural Chemistry (Springer)
Editorial Advisor, Leonardo (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)
Editorial Board, Foundations of Chemistry (Springer)
International Advisory Board, Russian Chemical Bulletin (Moscow/New York)
Editorial Board, Moscow State University Bulletin, Chemistry Section (Moscow)
Former editorial activities
Editor-in-Chief, The Chemical Intelligencer, Advisory/Editorial Board, Advances in Molecular Structure Research, Methods in Stereochemical Analysis, Speculations in Science and Technology, Computers & Mathematics with Applications, A kémia újabb eredményei, Kémiai Közlemények, ACH - Models in Chemistry, Journal of Biological Systems, Fullerene Science and Technology
Professional and association memberships (Current and Former):
Hungarian Chemical Society, Commission of Electron Diffraction of IUCr, Hungarian National Committee of IUCr, Hungarian National Committee of CODATA, Hungarian National Committee of UNESCO, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Chair, Committee on Physical Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry, HAS, Chair, Michael Polanyi Prize Award Committee, HAS, Loránd Eötvös Physical Society, American Association of University Professors, American Chemical Society, Japan Institute of Hyperspace Science, The New York Academy of Sciences, International Advisory Board of Earth Sustainability Foundation (Vancouver), International Symmetry Society
Awards, etc. (selection):
Academy prize, Budapest, authors, 1977, 1997, 2011, 2013, 2015, book critics, 1979
O. Hassel Lectureship, University of Oslo, 1981
Best Journal Issue Award by the Association of American Publishers, 1986
Joint Research Award of the Hungarian and Soviet Academies of Sciences, 1988
Dozor Visiting Professor, Ben-Gurion-University of the Negev, Israel, 1991
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Visiting Professor, 1992, Fellow, 2005
Kaskan Lectureship, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1994
The Japan Academy, Visiting Professor, 1994
First George A. Olah Lectureship, USC, Los Angeles, 1996
Szechenyi State Prize of Hungary (shared w/M. Hargittai), 1996
Krengel Visiting Professorship, Technion, Haifa, Israel, 1996
Wenner-Gren Distinguished Lectureship, Stockhom, Sweden, October, 1996
Distinguished Lecturer, California Institute of Technology, May, 1999
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Lectureship, Stockholm, December 2001
Chandler Society (Columbia University) Lecture, October 2002
Erdey László Prize, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 2003
Distinguished Wunsch Lectureship, Technion, Haifa, Israel, 2007
"Scientist of Science popularization" by the Club of Science Journalists, 2011
"József Nádor" Medal of BUT, 2013
Numerous invited lectureships at international meetings
Numerous invited seminars
Visits, invited lectures in: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China (PR), Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, the German Democratic Republic, Great Britain, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea (Republic of), the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia
Television, Radio Interviews (selection)
CUNY Public Television, New York; Hungarian Television, Budapest; Duna Television, Budapest; Barcelona Television (REDES TVE), Klub Radio, Budapest; Petöfi Radio, Budapest; Bartók Radio, Budapest; Info Radio, Budapest
Research interest:
Structural chemistry; sulfur and silicon stereochemistry; coordination compounds; metal halides; unstable species; high-temperature chemistry; gas-phase electron diffraction; combined use of experimental techniques and theoretical chemistry; gas/solid structure differences; intramolecular and intermolecular interactions; models of molecular geometry; history and culture of chemistry; general problems of symmetry, great scientific discoveries and scientists of the 20th century.
Teaching: Undergraduate and graduate-level teaching between 1971 and 2011 on molecular structure, electron scattering, spectroscopy, structural chemistry, general physics, general chemistry, symmetry, science for non-science majors, MSc, Dr.rer.nat., PhD thesis advisor in Hungary, USA, Switzerland, Israel, Italy
Outreach Programs:
Lectures to various organizations (Fulbright Organization, Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, Jewish Cultural Center Budapest, American Chemical Society, etc.) on symmetry; on scientific discovery; on famous scientists; on science policy; on the Nobel Prize; on success in science; etc.
Married: 1967, Dr. Magdolna Hargittai (née Vámhidy)
Children: Balázs and Eszter
Addresses, phone numbers:
Office: BUT Szt. Gellért tér 4, H-1111 Budapest
Mailing address: H-1521 Budapest, POBox 91, Hungary
e-mail: istvan.hargittai@gmail.com
