Dr. Alan Graham MacDiarmid was a world-renowned chemist born in Masterton, New Zealand on April 14, 1927, who later became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Victoria University College in New Zealand before pursuing graduate studies in the United States and England. Dr. MacDiarmid received his first PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1953 and a second PhD from Cambridge University in 1955 under Professor H.J. Emeléus. He joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in 1955 where he spent forty-five distinguished years, being appointed Blanchard Professor of Chemistry in 1988 before later joining the University of Texas at Dallas as Professor of Chemistry and James Von Her Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology in 2002.
Dr. MacDiarmid is celebrated as the "Father of Conductive Polymers" for his groundbreaking discovery that plastics could conduct electricity, a paradigm-shifting finding that earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000. In collaboration with Japanese chemist Hideki Shirakawa and American physicist Alan Heeger, he published the first results on conductive polymers in 1977, demonstrating that polyacetylene could achieve metallic conductivity through chemical or electrochemical doping. His work also included the critical "rediscovery" of polyaniline, which became the most widely used electrically conductive polymer in industrial applications. This research opened entirely new technological possibilities, leading to practical applications in rechargeable batteries, electromagnetic interference shielding, antistatic materials, corrosion inhibition, flexible transistors, and electroluminescent polymer displays that continue to impact modern electronics.
The profound impact of Dr. MacDiarmid's work is evidenced by his authorship of over six hundred scientific papers and twenty patents, establishing him as one of the most influential chemists of the twentieth century. His Nobel Prize-winning research fundamentally transformed materials science by creating the field of "synthetic metals" - organic polymers that exhibit electronic and magnetic properties of metals while retaining the mechanical properties of plastics. Dr. MacDiarmid's contributions continue to drive innovation across multiple disciplines, from energy storage to display technologies and beyond. Though he passed away on February 7, 2007, his pioneering vision and scientific legacy endure as conductive polymers remain vital to advancing technologies in the twenty-first century.
