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CONSTANTINE H. AND BONNIE ISSIDORIDES CHAIR IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY ESTABLISHED AT FAS

  • Date: May-26-2017

The American University of Beirut (AUB) is honored to announce the establishment of the Constantine H. (Costas) and Bonnie Issidorides Chair in Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), thanks to a generous donation made by the late Bonnie Issidorides.

“This endowed chair will allow the chemistry department to continue the quest for excellence that was started by great predecessors such as late Professor Issidorides and Professor Haddadin. The names of Professor Issidorides and his family will be perpetuated through this generous grant,” said FAS Dean Nadia El Cheikh. “We will be forming a search committee and hope to complete the recruitment by the fall of 2018-19.”

Professor Costas Issidorides was a professor of organic chemistry from 1952 to 1986 and is recognized as the founder of modern chemical research at AUB. He is remembered as an exceptionally talented researcher, a generous mentor, and a valued colleague. Upon his retirement from AUB in 1986, the Lebanese Ministry of Education decorated Issidorides with a gold medal in recognition of his outstanding services.

During a remarkable 45-year career at AUB and later at the University of California, Davis, Issidorides published his acclaimed and widely cited research results in prestigious international journals such as the Journal of the American Chemical Society and the Journal of Organic Chemistry. He is best known as the co-inventor, with AUB Chemistry Professor Makhluf Haddadin, of the Beirut Reaction, a chemical reaction that led to the development of hundreds of anti-bacterial and anti-cancer compounds and garnered more than 45 patents in 20 countries.

Professor Issidorides left a legacy of creative research, an art of teaching science to emulate, and humility that is hard to match. His memory will live on in perpetuity, at AUB and beyond, through the establishment of this chair.

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