Excm. Sr. Santiago OLIVELLA i NEL·LO

Barcelona, 1944
Chemistry Section (3rd)
Speciality: Theory of chemical reactions
Ingress date: 2010.02.04
Medal: 55

Education: B.Sc., 1968 (University of Barcelona); Ph.D., 1973 (Prof. Manuel Ballester, University of Barcelona); 1974-76 Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Michael J.S. Dewar, University of Texas, Austin (USA). Research appointments: Assistant Researcher of the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) at the Institute of Applied Organic Chemistry (IAOC)(1977-79). Associate Researcher of the CSIC at the IAOC (1980-81) and the University of Barcelona (UB) (1982-88). Research Professor of the CSIC at the UB (1989-2000) and the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (2001-14). Main fields of research and artistic creation: Quantum-mechanical electronic structure calculations on organic reactions mecanisms (e.g., Diels-Alder reaction, free-radical addition, gas-phase ion decomposition, low-lying electronic states of cycloalkynes and cycloalkylidenes, etc. In the last years, the research has focused on the theoretical study of reactions that play a relevant role in the Earth’s atmosphere. Creation of computational resources: Founder and first Director of the Computation Center of the Faculty of Chemistry of the UB (1984-93). Promotion of Theoretical Chemistry research: Founder and first Director of the Research Center for Theoretical Chemistry of the UB (1998-2001). Publications: More than 80 peer-reviewed articles. Awards and honors: Narcís Monturiol medal to the scientific merit (1998, Generalitat de Catalunya); XVI Solvay prize to the research in chemical sciences (2002, CEOE Foundation).