Roald Hoffmann

Roald Hoffmann
ForMemRS
Roald Hoffmann ForMemRS
	Hoffmann in 2025
Born	Roald Safran; July 18, 1937; Złoczów, Second Polish Republic
Education	Columbia University; Harvard University
Known for	Woodward–Hoffmann rules; Extended Hückel method; Isolobal principle
Spouse	Eva Börjesson (m. 1960)
Children	2
Awards	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1981); William H. Nichols Medal (1981); National Medal of Science (1983); NAS Award in Chemical Sciences (1986); Priestley Medal (1990); Lomonosov Gold Medal (2011);
	Scientific career
Fields	Theoretical Chemistry
Institutions	Cornell University
Thesis	Theory of Polyhedral Molecules: Second Quantization and Hypochromism in Helices. (1962)
Doctoral advisor	William N. Lipscomb, Jr.; Martin Gouterman;
Doctoral students	Jing Li
Other notable students	Jeffrey R. Long (undergraduate), Karen Goldberg (undergraduate)
Website	www.roaldhoffmann.com

Roald Hoffmann (born Roald Safran; July 18, 1937) is a Polish-American theoretical chemist who shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kenichi Fukui “for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions”. He has also published plays, poetry and popular science. He is the Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Emeritus at Cornell University.