Harry Gray
Chemist • Professor
Professor Gray's interdisciplinary research program addresses fundamental problems in inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics. He is also the Founding Director of Beckman Institute. We partnered with him in creating an impactful documentary about Arnold Beckman's works, impact, and technologies.
Excerpt from my work on the feature documentary of Arnold Beckman.
Interface between Chemistry and Biology
Dr. Harry Gray is a Professor of Chemistry and the Founding Director of the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology. After postdoctoral research at the University of Copenhagen, he joined the chemistry faculty at Columbia University.
In the early 1960s, Gray developed the ligand field electronic structure theory of transition metal complexes. After moving to Caltech in 1966, he demonstrated that electrons could tunnel over long distances through proteins, a discovery that shed light on the mechanisms of respiration and photosynthesis.
Gray has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science (1986); the Wolf Prize (2004); the Welch Award (2009); six national ACS awards, including the Priestley Medal (1991); and 22 honorary doctorates.