Israel Academy Elects Prof. Ilan Marek
Prof. Ilan Marek of the Technion Elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Ilan Marek, Professor of organic chemistry at the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, has been elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Prof. Ilan Marek
The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities is the leading body in Israel’s scientific community. It was established by law in 1961 with the aim of bringing together the best scientists in Israel, to nurture and promote scientific activities in Israel and to advise Israeli governments on research and scientific planning of national importance. Prof. Marek was accepted among six new members of the academy that will now have 132 members. “The Academy is blessed with the participation of these elite researchers who can empower it and assist in fulfilling its mission to strengthen science in Israel,” said Academy President Prof. Nili Cohen.
Prof. Marek heads the Mallat Family Organic Chemistry Laboratory at the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion. His work is concerned with the design and development of new and efficient stereo- and enantioselective strategies for the synthesis of important complex molecular structures. He is particularly interested in developing carbon-carbon bond forming processes, which efficiently create multiple stereocenters in a single-pot operation.
Born in Israel, Marek moved to France with his family when he was one year old. In 1988, he completed his doctorate at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, and after postdoctoral research in Belgium, he received a position as a researcher at the CNRS at the University Pierre et Marie Curie. In 1997, after 34 years in France, he returned to Israel and joined the Technion’s Schulich Faculty of Chemistry. He currently heads the Mallat Family Organic Chemistry Laboratory and holds the Sir Michael and Lady Sobell Academic Chair.
Prof. Marek has published several hundreds of research articles, edited more than 13 books and won numerous national and international awards including the Weizmann Prize for Exact Sciences; the Israel Chemistry Society Prize for Academic Excellence; the Royal Society Chemistry Organometallic Award; the Janssen Pharmaceutical Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis; the Alon Fellowship; the Michael Bruno Memorial Award; the Taub Prize for Academic Excellence; and the Yanai Prize for Excellence in Academic Education. In December 2017, he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences.