Chemistry International
Vol. 21, No. 4
July 1999
40th
IUPAC Council Meeting
Free University,
Berlin, Germany,
13-14 August 1999
Election
of Officers and Bureau Members: Vice President
President
Vice President
.... Prof. Pavel Kratochvil
.... Prof. Pieter S. Steyn
.... Prof. Leiv K. Sydnes
Past-President
Secretary General
TreasurerVacancy
BureauFour Vacancies (Minimum)
Prof. Pavel Kratochvil (Czech Republic)
Prof. Pavel Kratochvil
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Prof. Pavel Kratochvil was born in Prague in 1930. He is a chief
research fellow at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy
of Sciences of the Czech Republic, one of the major institutes devoted to
basic research in polymer science worldwide. From 1990 to 1998, he served
two four-year terms as the Institute's director. He is also a professor of
macromolecular chemistry at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague.
In 1953, he became a Master of Science in chemical engineering
at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague. Until 1957, he was a lecturer
on physico- chemical principles of technological processes at the Institute
of Chemical Technology in Pardubice. In 1957, Prof. Kratochvil joined the
Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the then Czechoslovak Academy of
Sciences, where he has remained. In 1960, he obtained his Ph.D. and in 1968
a D.Sc., both from the Academy. His main field of activity is the physical
chemistry of polymers, particularly the characterization and determination
of molecular parameters of polymers and copolymers, and light scattering from
polymer solutions.
Prof. Kratochvil is the author of more than 190 original communications
in international journals, ten reviews, one monograph, and five contributions
to monographs. He has presented about 250 invited lectures and communications
at international scientific meetings and lectures at foreign universities
and research institutions.
Prof. Kratochvil is a Founding Member of the Learned Society
of the Czech Republic; Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK; and a
member of numerous boards, both national and international, including the
Czech National Committee for UNESCO and five editorial boards of international
technical journals. He is holder of the Czechoslovak National Prize for Science
in 1970, the Prize of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1977, and of
several other respected awards. He has spent his sabbatical leaves as a visiting
scientist or visiting professor in Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia,
Sweden, and the United States.
Within IUPAC, Prof. Kratochvil started his activities as an
observer in the Commission on Macromolecular Nomenclature in 1977. He was
elected a titular member of this Commission in 1979 and served as its chairman
from 1985 to 1991. In the years from 1985 to 1995, he was a member of the
Interdivisional Committee on Nomenclature and Symbols. He became a member
of the Macromolecular Division Committee in 1994. He has been closely involved
in various IUPAC-sponsored meetings in Prague, including the International
Symposia on Macromolecules in 1965 and 1992 (he was chairman of the 1992 Symposium)
and most of the Prague Meetings on Macromolecules (Microsymposia and Discussion
Conferences) over the last 32 years. He acted as the IUPAC official representative
at about ten meetings. Prof. Kratochvil is currently serving his second term
as the chairman of the Czech National Committee for Chemistry, the IUPAC National
Adhering Organization of the Czech Republic.