Solving world problems with pyrrole: 65th birthday tribute to Prof. Jonathan L. Sessler

Calvin V. Chau; Sajal Sen; Adam C. Sedgwick; Philip A. Gale; G. Dan Pantos; Sung Kuk Kim; Jung Su Park; Elisa Tomat; Jonathan F. Arambula; Anne E.V. Gorden; Hiroyuki Furuta

doi:10.1016/j.chempr.2022.02.005

Solving world problems with pyrrole: 65^th birthday tribute to Prof. Jonathan L. Sessler

Calvin V. Chau, Sajal Sen, Adam C. Sedgwick, Philip A. Gale, G. Dan Pantos, Sung Kuk Kim, Jung Su Park, Elisa Tomat, Jonathan F. Arambula, Anne E.V. Gorden, Hiroyuki Furuta

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

Abstract

To celebrate Prof. Jonathan Sessler's 65^th birthday, this Backstory on his life and career follows his path to success. We begin with his early days as an independent researcher and then show how his Texas-sized chemistry has molded over the years with the help of the “Crown and Anchor approach.” We hope this article will inspire readers to pursue their own academic endeavors and remember Jonathan's guiding motto: “people first, science second, money third.”

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	587-598
Number of pages	12
Journal	Chem
Volume	8
Issue number	3
Early online date	24 Feb 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2022.02.005
Publication status	Published - 10 Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Born in the cold, windy city of Urbana, IL, Jonathan L. Sessler was welcomed into a family full of intellectuals. Jonathan's father, Andrew M. Sessler, was a world-famous American physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and was recognized with the Enrico Fermi Award (2014), a presidential award (awarded by President Barack Obama) honoring scientists for lifetime achievements. Jonathan's father made sure that Jonathan, at a very young age, knew how to think critically. Family dinners consisted of discussions on either how to solve some problem or how to gather opinions on whether a view expressed in a journal article made sense. Thus, the Sessler household was the perfect environment for Jonathan to grow into the person he is today. However, unlike his father, Jonathan found physics in high school (Berkeley High School) to be a disaster. Thankfully, a truly gifted chemistry teacher in high school, Mr. Choulet, identified his passion and gift for the subject and gave him the tools he needed to succeed. Of course, this influence led Jonathan to pursue chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), where he was taught and inspired by the likes of Leo Brewer, Andrew Streitwieser, and Alex Pines. While in college, Jonathan spent a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he made lifelong friends in and out of chemistry. For graduate school, Jonathan switched Bay Area allegiances and joined Stanford University to work in the lab of James P. Collman (with John Brauman as a co-mentor). Here, Jonathan was exposed to various aspects of bioinorganic and biomimetic chemistry using inorganic complexes and porphyrins. Unfortunately, during this time, he suffered a relapse of his Hodgkin's lymphoma (he was first diagnosed and treated when he was at UCB), requiring him to undergo intense chemotherapy, which left him to suffer through severe and debilitating side effects. Luckily, several group members and friends (Roger Pettman, Penny Brothers, Dave Ware, Mark Johnson, Alan Flamberg, and undergraduate Brent Iverson) assisted him throughout this process, and so too did his family. Although this was an unfortunate time, this moment of adversity led to an important connection that helped shape his career: it made him close to his oncologist, Richard A. Miller. Current and previous Sessler group members believe that this period in his life led to this simple philosophy for Jonathan's academic career: ?people first, science second, money third.?

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
Biochemistry
Environmental Chemistry
General Chemical Engineering
Biochemistry, medical
Materials Chemistry

Access to Document

10.1016/j.chempr.2022.02.005

Cite this

@article{8c53ea77ddd246b4add6cd23f60fbf51,

title = "Solving world problems with pyrrole: 65th birthday tribute to Prof. Jonathan L. Sessler",

abstract = "To celebrate Prof. Jonathan Sessler's 65th birthday, this Backstory on his life and career follows his path to success. We begin with his early days as an independent researcher and then show how his Texas-sized chemistry has molded over the years with the help of the “Crown and Anchor approach.” We hope this article will inspire readers to pursue their own academic endeavors and remember Jonathan's guiding motto: “people first, science second, money third.”",

author = "Chau, {Calvin V.} and Sajal Sen and Sedgwick, {Adam C.} and Gale, {Philip A.} and Pantos, {G. Dan} and Kim, {Sung Kuk} and Park, {Jung Su} and Elisa Tomat and Arambula, {Jonathan F.} and Gorden, {Anne E.V.} and Hiroyuki Furuta",

note = "Funding Information: Born in the cold, windy city of Urbana, IL, Jonathan L. Sessler was welcomed into a family full of intellectuals. Jonathan's father, Andrew M. Sessler, was a world-famous American physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and was recognized with the Enrico Fermi Award (2014), a presidential award (awarded by President Barack Obama) honoring scientists for lifetime achievements. Jonathan's father made sure that Jonathan, at a very young age, knew how to think critically. Family dinners consisted of discussions on either how to solve some problem or how to gather opinions on whether a view expressed in a journal article made sense. Thus, the Sessler household was the perfect environment for Jonathan to grow into the person he is today. However, unlike his father, Jonathan found physics in high school (Berkeley High School) to be a disaster. Thankfully, a truly gifted chemistry teacher in high school, Mr. Choulet, identified his passion and gift for the subject and gave him the tools he needed to succeed. Of course, this influence led Jonathan to pursue chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), where he was taught and inspired by the likes of Leo Brewer, Andrew Streitwieser, and Alex Pines. While in college, Jonathan spent a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he made lifelong friends in and out of chemistry. For graduate school, Jonathan switched Bay Area allegiances and joined Stanford University to work in the lab of James P. Collman (with John Brauman as a co-mentor). Here, Jonathan was exposed to various aspects of bioinorganic and biomimetic chemistry using inorganic complexes and porphyrins. Unfortunately, during this time, he suffered a relapse of his Hodgkin's lymphoma (he was first diagnosed and treated when he was at UCB), requiring him to undergo intense chemotherapy, which left him to suffer through severe and debilitating side effects. Luckily, several group members and friends (Roger Pettman, Penny Brothers, Dave Ware, Mark Johnson, Alan Flamberg, and undergraduate Brent Iverson) assisted him throughout this process, and so too did his family. Although this was an unfortunate time, this moment of adversity led to an important connection that helped shape his career: it made him close to his oncologist, Richard A. Miller. Current and previous Sessler group members believe that this period in his life led to this simple philosophy for Jonathan's academic career: ?people first, science second, money third.? ",

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T2 - 65th birthday tribute to Prof. Jonathan L. Sessler

AU - Chau, Calvin V.

AU - Sen, Sajal

AU - Sedgwick, Adam C.

AU - Gale, Philip A.

AU - Pantos, G. Dan

AU - Kim, Sung Kuk

AU - Park, Jung Su

AU - Tomat, Elisa

AU - Arambula, Jonathan F.

AU - Gorden, Anne E.V.

AU - Furuta, Hiroyuki

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