Roald Hoffmann — chem (nobel) with roots in the USSR
Roald Hoffmann is a Polish-American theoretical chemist born in Zolochiv (then Poland, now Ukraine) who survived the Holocaust as a young child — hidden in a school attic while his father was murdered — and went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1981. He is also a published poet and playwright.
Tracing the roots — Zolochiv (Ukr)
Born in Zolochiv (then under Soviet occupation, now western Ukraine) in 1937 to a Jewish family, Hoffmann's father Hillel Safran was killed in the Holocaust while hiding his wife and young son in a schoolhouse attic. The child who survived became one of chemistry's greatest theoretical minds — his work on orbital symmetry with Robert Woodward fundamentally changed how chemists understand chemical reactions.
Zolochiv (Ukr). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
A career defined by ambition
"I am a survivor, and I feel I owe it to those who did not survive to live fully and creatively."