Mark Ratner

Mark A. Ratner (born December 8, 1942) is an

American chemist and professor emeritus at Mark A. Ratner
Northwestern University whose work focuses on the
interplay between molecular structure and molecular
properties.[1] He is widely credited as the "father of
molecular-scale electronics" thanks to his
groundbreaking work with Arieh Aviram in 1974 that
first envisioned how electronic circuit elements might
be constructed from single molecules and how these
circuits might behave.[2]

Education
Ratner graduated from Harvard University with an Ratner in 2009.
undergraduate degree in chemistry and obtained his
Born December 8, 1942
Ph.D. in chemistry from Northwestern University.[3]
Cleveland, Ohio
Nationality American

Academic career Known for unimolecular rectifier

Awards Irving Langmuir Award (2004)
Ratner taught chemistry at New York University from Willard Gibbs Award (2012)
1970 until 1974. In 1974, he and Arieh Aviram Peter Debye Award (2016)
proposed the first unimolecular rectifier, [4] thus
[5] Scientific career
becoming pioneers in molecular electronics. During
more than 45 years in the chemistry department at Fields molecular electronics

Northwestern University, Ratner was the inaugural Institutions Northwestern University

Lawrence B. Dumas Distinguished University Doctoral G. Ludwig Hofacker, Jan
Professor, the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison advisor Linderberg
Professor in Chemistry, associate and interim dean of
the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Co-director of ISEN (Institute for Sustainability and Energy
at Northwestern), recipient of the Northwestern Alumni Merit Award, and an eleven-time member of the
Faculty Teaching Honor Roll.[6][7][8][9]

Ratner's major areas of research include nonlinear optical response properties of molecules; electron
transfer and molecular electronics; quantum dynamics and relaxation in condensed phase; mean-field
models for extended systems, including proteins and molecular assemblies; photonics in nanoscale
systems; excitons in molecule-based photovoltaics and hybrid classical/quantum representations.[1] He
has published more than 1,000 papers in these fields[1][10][11] through international collaborations,
particularly in Denmark, Israel and the Netherlands.[12]
Ratner is a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the National Academy of
Sciences.[13][14] His honors and awards include the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology,[15] the Irving
Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics,[16] the Willard J. Gibbs Award,[17] the Peter Debye Award in
Physical Chemistry,[18] and honorary ScD degrees from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the
University of Copenhagen. He also serves on the Governing Board for the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists.[19]

Selected works
Molecular Electronics II (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences) (1998-07) ISBN 1-
57331-156-1
Same (ed. with Ari Aviram, Vladimiro Mujica) (2002–05) ISBN 1-57331-410-2
Electron transport in molecular wire junctions, Nitzan, A.; Ratner, M. A., Science 2003, 300,
(5624), 1384-1389.
Microscopic study of electrical transport through individual molecules with metallic contacts.
I. Band lineup, voltage drop, and high-field transport, Xue, Y. Q.; Ratner, M. A., Physical
Review B 2003, 68, (11).
Molecular electronics: Some views on transport and beyond, Joachim, C.; Ratner, M. A,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2005,
102, (25), 8800-8800.
Intermolecular charge transfer between heterocyclic oligomers. Effects of heteroatom and
molecular packing on hopping transport in organic semiconductors, Hutchison, G. R.;
Ratner, M. A.; Marks, T. J., Journal of the American Chemical Society 2005, 127, (48),
16866-16881.
Single-molecule pulling and the folding of donor-acceptor oligorotaxanes: Phenomenology
and interpretation, Franco, I.; Schatz, G. C.; Ratner, Journal of Chemical Physics 2009, 131,
(12).
Geometry and Electronic Coupling in Perylenediimide Stacks: Mapping Structure-Charge
Transport Relationships, Vura-Weis, J.; Ratner, M. A.; Wasielewski, M. R., Journal of the
American Chemical Society 2010, 132, (6), 1738-+.
Exploring local currents in molecular junctions, Solomon, G. C.; Herrmann, C.; Hansen, T.;
Mujica, V.; Ratner, M. A., Nature Chemistry 2010, 2, (3), 223-228.
Quantum Mechanics in Chemistry (with George C. Schatz) (2002-01-28) ISBN 0-486-
42003-5
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics in Chemistry (with George C. Schatz) (2000-05-18)
ISBN 0-13-895491-7
Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea (with Daniel Ratner) (2002-11-
18) ISBN 0-13-101400-5
Nanotechnology and Homeland Security: New Weapons for New Wars (with Daniel Ratner)
(2003-10-24) ISBN 0-13-145307-6

References
1. "Mark A. Ratner – Ratner Group" (https://sites.northwestern.edu/ratner/mark-a-ratner/).
sites.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
 2. Ratner, Mark A.; Ratner, Daniel (2003). Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next
Big Idea (https://books.google.com/books?id=m9Tn_V4an28C). Prentice Hall Professional.
ISBN 978-0-13-101400-8.
3. "Mark A. Ratner | Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN)" (https://ise
n.northwestern.edu/mark-a-ratner). isen.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
4. "Molecular electronics under the microscope" (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnchem.2200).
Nature Chemistry. 7 (3): 181. March 2015. Bibcode:2015NatCh...7..181. (https://ui.adsabs.h
arvard.edu/abs/2015NatCh...7..181.). doi:10.1038/nchem.2200 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F
nchem.2200). ISSN 1755-4349 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1755-4349).
PMID 25698315 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25698315).
5. Aviram, A and Ratner, M.A.; “Molecular Rectifier” Chemical Physics Letters 29: 277 (1974)
6. "Ratner Named to First Dumas Professorship at Northwestern: Northwestern University
News" (https://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter//stories/2007/11/ratner.html).
www.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
7. "Mark Ratner Named Interim Dean of Weinberg College" (https://news.northwestern.edu/sto
ries/2014/07/ratner-interim-wcas-dean/). news.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
8. "nanoHUB.org - Members: View: Mark Ratner" (https://nanohub.org/members/5533).
nanohub.org. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
9. "Mark A. Ratner | InformIT" (https://www.informit.com/authors/bio/C5D9571C-877A-4BF4-A6
3A-EE752EA6C161). www.informit.com. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
10. ResearchGate. "Mark A. Ratner" (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark-Ratner).
ResearchGate.
11. "Mark A Ratner" (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=f4LcQSYAAAAJ&hl=en).
scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
12. "Mark A Ratner" (https://sofi-northwestern.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/mark-a-ratner/netw
ork-map/). SOFI Northwestern. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
13. Biography of Mark A. Ratner (http://www.pnas.org/content/101/19/7213.full) by Emma Hitt,
National Academy of Sciences, May 5, 2004
14. CSHL Oral History Collection (2016). "Mark Ratner" (http://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/speak
er/mark-ratner/). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
15. "2001 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology" (https://foresight.org/about/2001Feynman.php).
foresight.org. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
16. "Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics" (https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-a
nd-awards/awards/national/bytopic/irving-langmuir-award-in-chemical-physics.html).
American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
17. "Willard Gibbs Award" (https://chicagoacs.org/Willard_Gibbs_Award). chicagoacs.org.
Retrieved 2021-05-27.
18. "Peter Debye Award In Physical Chemistry: Mark A. Ratner" (https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i
1/Peter-Debye-Award-Physical-Chemistry.html). cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
19. "Governing Board" (http://thebulletin.org/governing-board). Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Retrieved 2016-03-30.

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