George Whitesides is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at Harvard University. He is best known for his pioneering work in microfabrication and nanoscale self-assembly. Whitesides cofounded the pharmaceutical giant Genzyme and he is the world’s most cited living chemist.
Whitesides received an A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1960 and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology (with J.D. Roberts) in 1964. He was a member of the faculty of the MIT from 1963 to 1982. He joined the Department of Chemistry of Harvard University in 1982, and was department chairman from 1986 to 1989, and Mallinckrodt professor of chemistry from 1982 to 2004. He is now the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers university professor.
