Henry Taube was born in Neudorf, in Southeast Saskatchewan, Canada, November, 30 1915, only ten years after Saskatchewan became a province. The region was farmland and education was highly valued. Saskatchewan currently produces over 54% of the wheat grown in Canada.
Taube attended a one-room elementary school. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon where he received a BS in 1935 and an MS in 1937. He completed post-graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley where he received his PhD. in 1940. It was here that Taube developed a keen interest in inorganic chemistry. Taube remained at the University of California at Berkeley as an Instructor from 1940 to 1941.
When no jobs were available in Canada, Taube accepted a position at Cornell in Ithaca, NY, progressing from Assistant Professor to Professor from 1941 to 1946.
Taube became a US citizen in 1942.
Taube accepted a position at the University of Chicago progressing from Assistant Professor to Professor from 1946 to 1961. In 1962, Taube was appointed Professor at Stanford University in 1962 and he remained there until 1986. He was chairman of the Department of Chemistry from 1972 to 1974 and from 1978 to 1979.
Taube is most recognized for his work with inorganic metal complexes that provided the theoretical basis for modern inorganic chemistry. He has made major contributions to:
- electron transfer reactions
- rates and mechanisms of transition-metal coordination compounds
- reactivity of inorganic substances
- mixed-valence molecules
- effects of back-bonding
In his acceptance speech, after receiving the Nobel in 1983, Taube said, "Science as an intellectual exercise enriches our culture and is in itself ennobling." Taube was the first Canadian-born chemist to win the Nobel.
The January 14, 1998 issue of Chemical and Engineering News named Taube one of "Top 75 Distinguished Contributors to the Chemical Enterprise" according to their reader nominations.
According to the Stanford Report, October 3, 2001, interviewing their fifteen Nobel Laureates about how winning had affected them.
Henry Taube noticed improved attentiveness of his students despite little change in his lessons. This phenomenon reminded him of a conversation he once overheard between two students at the University of Chicago: "One of them remarked, 'I also have Professor [Harold Clayton] Urey [1934 Nobel laureate in chemistry] in General Chemistry. I don't understand much of what he is talking about, but isn't it wonderful!'"
Honors, Awards, and Memberships
- Guggenheim Fellow, 1949 and 1955
- American Chemical Society Award for Nuclear Applications in Chemistry, 1955
- Harrison Howe Award, Rochester Section, ACS, 1960
- Chandler Medal, Columbia University, 1964
- John Gamble Kirkwood Award, New Haven Section, ACS, 1966
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