| Authorised form of name | Pines; Alexander (1945-2024); chemist |
| Dates | 1945-2024 |
| Nationality | American |
| Place of birth | Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine, West Asia |
| Date of birth | 22 June 1945 |
| Place of death | USA |
| Date of death | 1 November 2024 |
| Occupation | Chemist |
| Research field | Spectroscopy |
| Nuclear magnetic resonance |
| Chemistry |
| Activity | Education:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem B.Sc. 1967; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D 1968-1972
Career:
Grew up in in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe); joined the University of California Berkeley Faculty (1972); became Associate Professor (1975); then Professor (1980); then Glenn T Seaborg Chair of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, USA (1980s to 2024).
Awards/Medals:
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards 1976
Bourke Award 1988
Guggenheim Fellowship 1988
Wolf Prize in Chemistry 1991
Centenary Prize 1993
Irving Langmuir Award 1998
Dickson Prize 2001
Glenn T. Seaborg Medal 2003
Faraday Lectureship 2004
Russell Varian Prize 2008 |
| Membership category | Foreign Member |
| Date of election | 13/05/2002 |
| Relationships | Parents: His father was a chess player and his mother a musician |
| OtherInfo | Helped to develop nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy - a technique for revealing molecular structure and organisation based on the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei - into a powerful tool for studying solid materials. The methods he pioneered found widespread application in fields such as biomedicine, chemistry, and materials science.
Made significant developments in multiple-quantum spectroscopy, zero-field NMR and cross-polarisation. Alongside his research, Alexander was highly regarded as an educator and was presented with the Distinguished Teaching Award of UC Berkeley. |
| Source | The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Professor Alexander Pines FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/alexander-pines-12100/; last accessed: 12/11/2025]
Alex Pines personal website, [URL: https://pines.berkeley.edu/people/alex-pines; last accessed: 12/11/2025]
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry, Alexander Pines: A legacy of scientific innovation and generosity, Sarah C. P. Williams, 16 June 2025, [URL: https://chemistry.berkeley.edu/news/alexander-pines-legacy-scientific-innovation-and-generosity; last accessed: 12/11/2025]
Science Advances, Vol 11, Issue 7, Alexander Pines and the end of an era,Warren S. Warren, 12 February 2025 [URL: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw3504; last accessed: 12/11/2025] |
| Code | NA8497 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/2002/46 | Pines, Alexander: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/003590 | Pines, Alexander | 2002 |