Robert H. Grubbs Quotes

Robert H. Grubbs

Profession : Scientist

Birth : February 27, 1942

As a child, I was always interested in building things. Instead of buying candy, I would purchase nails, which I used to construct things out of scrap wood. My mother always claimed that my spending my money on nails instead of on candy was why I was so skinny as a kid.

Robert H. Grubbs

My interest in science started in junior high school where an outstanding science teacher, Mrs. Baumgardner, introduced me to the joys of science.

Robert H. Grubbs

I was born at home in rural Kentucky, in 1942, in a house that my father Howard had built. He did most of the construction himself and built it on land that his father had given him when he married my mother Faye.

Robert H. Grubbs

As I grew older, farms in Kentucky provided me with many jobs in hauling hay and in cutting tobacco. In addition to helping fund my college years, these jobs helped me to meet an array of very interesting and amazing men and women.

Robert H. Grubbs

Polymer chemistry provides an excellent means of studying metathesis catalysts: miniscule catalyst loadings have the capacity to generate large amounts of polymeric material, the structure of which can provide a historical record of catalyst activity.

Robert H. Grubbs

One of the most rewarding aspects of my research has been the opportunity to study the potential applications of a new catalyst.

Robert H. Grubbs

Most commercial products that contain organic molecules possess at least one carbon-carbon double bond, or if one is not present, it is likely that an olefin was used in its preparation. This being the case, the potential applications of olefin metathesis are endless.

Robert H. Grubbs

Like the Tebbe complex, ruthenium olefin metathesis catalysts can be used for the production of living polymers.

Robert H. Grubbs

Catalysts are the conductors who choreograph the chemical dance that results in the formation of new structures.

Robert H. Grubbs