Coherent energy transfer in photosynthetic light harvesting
Event details
| Date | 14.03.2016 |
| Hour | 16:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Gregory Scholes, Princeton |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Ultrafast Dynamics of Excitons in Chemistry and Biology: Coherent Energy Transfer in Photosynthetic Light Harvesting
Prof. Scholes’ research includes the design and study of new nanocrystalline semi-conductors, ultrafast laser spectroscopy, theory of energy transfer and the photophysics of p-conjugated systems. A theme of the research program centers around solar energy conversion. Major goals include the application of a new two-dimensional spectroscopy to watch chemical reactions and see how the electrons form bonds and how the other electrons in the system respond.
The goal is to understand correlated motions of electrons so that synthetic design can move beyond the mean-field concepts proposed by Pauling and others almost a century ago. The second major goal is to investigate how photosynthetic antenna proteins in marine algae collectively transfer solar energy to the photosystems. Recent work in his group has shown that even at physiological temperature, the light-absorbing molecules in each protein are quantum-mechanically wired together. New work is aimed at understanding how these quantum mechanical energy transfer processes evolved.
Bio: Prof. Scholes is currently a full professor in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University. In 1994, he received his Ph.D. at the University of Melbourne before pursuing his postdoctoral studies in the lab of Prof. D. Phillips at Imperial College as a Ramsay Memorial research fellow. He pursued further postdoctoral work in the Prof. G. R. Fleming lab at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 2000, Prof. Scholes became an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the University of Toronto, where he was promoted to full professor in 2010. Prof. Scholes was awarded the D.J. LeRoy Distinguished Professorship before starting his career at Princeton University in 2014. He has been the recipient of multiple prestigious awards throughout his career, including the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award (2013), the Royal Society of Chemistry Bourke Award (2012), and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Physical Sciences (2011).
Scholes is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of Science) and the recipient of the 2007 Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry. His work remains among the most highly cited in the community.
Prof. Scholes’ research includes the design and study of new nanocrystalline semi-conductors, ultrafast laser spectroscopy, theory of energy transfer and the photophysics of p-conjugated systems. A theme of the research program centers around solar energy conversion. Major goals include the application of a new two-dimensional spectroscopy to watch chemical reactions and see how the electrons form bonds and how the other electrons in the system respond.
The goal is to understand correlated motions of electrons so that synthetic design can move beyond the mean-field concepts proposed by Pauling and others almost a century ago. The second major goal is to investigate how photosynthetic antenna proteins in marine algae collectively transfer solar energy to the photosystems. Recent work in his group has shown that even at physiological temperature, the light-absorbing molecules in each protein are quantum-mechanically wired together. New work is aimed at understanding how these quantum mechanical energy transfer processes evolved.
Bio: Prof. Scholes is currently a full professor in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University. In 1994, he received his Ph.D. at the University of Melbourne before pursuing his postdoctoral studies in the lab of Prof. D. Phillips at Imperial College as a Ramsay Memorial research fellow. He pursued further postdoctoral work in the Prof. G. R. Fleming lab at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 2000, Prof. Scholes became an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the University of Toronto, where he was promoted to full professor in 2010. Prof. Scholes was awarded the D.J. LeRoy Distinguished Professorship before starting his career at Princeton University in 2014. He has been the recipient of multiple prestigious awards throughout his career, including the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award (2013), the Royal Society of Chemistry Bourke Award (2012), and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Physical Sciences (2011).
Scholes is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of Science) and the recipient of the 2007 Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry. His work remains among the most highly cited in the community.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Ardemis Boghossian
Contact
- Ardemis Boghossian