Ben L. Feringa

Ben L. Feringa is a Dutch synthetic organic chemist whose research interest includes stereochemistry, organic synthesis, asymmetric catalysis, molecular switches and motors, self-assembly, molecular nanosystems and photopharmacology. He obtained his Ph D degree from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands under the guidance of Prof. Hans Wynberg. After his stint as a research scientist at Shell in the Netherlands and the UK, he was appointed lecturer and became full professor in 1988 at the University of Groningen; he was also named the Jacobus H. van’t Hoff Distinguished Professor of Molecular Sciences in 2004. He was elected Foreign Honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences as well as a member of the Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2008, he was appointed Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and was knighted by Her Majesty, Queen of the Netherlands.