| Authorised form of name | Sheldon; Roger Arthur (1942-2025); chemist |
| Dates | 1942-2025 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 24 June 1942 |
| Place of death | United Kingdom |
| Date of death | 6 October 2025 |
| Occupation | Chemist |
| Research field | Molecular Biology |
| Biochemistry |
| Biocatalysis Engineering |
| Applied chemistry |
| Green chemistry |
| Catalysis |
| Chemistry |
| Activity | Education:
Graduate Royal Institute of Chemistry 1964; University of Leicester Ph.D 1967; Post-doctoral Fellow with Jay Kochi, Case Western Reserve University and Indiana University 1967-1969
Career:
Laboratory technician, Boots Pure Drug Co. (1958-1964); Research Chemist, Koninklijke Shell Laboratories, Amsterdam (1969-1979); Vice President R&D, DSM-Andeno, Fine Chemicals (1980-1990); Professor of Biocatalysis & Organic Chemistry, Delft University of Technology (1991-2015) (since 2007 as emeritus professor); CEO and founder of CLEA Technologies (2002-2015); Part-time Professor, Leuven University, Belgium, (2008-2012); Distinguished Professor of Biocatalysis Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, School of Chemistry (2015-2025).
Medals & Prizes:
Royal Society of Chemistry Essay Prize for the essay “Chemistry and the Quality of Life” 1974
Royal Society of Chemistry Award in Hydrocarbon Oxidation Chemistry 1979
Berzelius Medal in Catalysis (University of Lund, Sweden) 1982
Paul Rylander Award, Organic Reaction Catalysis Society 1997
Doctor Honoris Causa Russian Academy of Sciences 1999
Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, Prof. K.Venkataraman Award for outstanding contributions to Chemical Technology. 2001
D.Sc degree from the University of Leicester 2004
1st EuCheMS Lectureship, “Combining organometallic catalysis and biocatalysis in catalytic cascade processes” FECHEM conference, Budapest. 2005
Green Chemistry Presidential Challenge Award (USA) 2006
Royal Society of Chemistry Green Chemistry Award 2010
Biocat 2010 award for outstanding achievements in Biocatalysis 2010
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry 2018
Memberships:
Royal Society of Chemistry (Hon FRSC) 1964
American Chemical Society 1967
Royal Netherlands Chemical Society 1969
Fellow Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science 1997
Member of the Academia Europaea 1998
Netherlands Biotechnology Society 1992 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 30/04/2015 |
| Age at election | 72 |
| Relationships | Spouse: Janna (Jetty) Kornelia Dijkstra
Children: Annemarie (b. 1975) and Frank (b. 1976) |
| OtherInfo | Recognised authority on Green Chemistry and Catalysis and was widely known for developing the concepts of E factors and atom utilisation for assessing the environmental footprint of chemical processes. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Source | The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Professor Roger Sheldon FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/roger-sheldon-12270/; last accessed: 29/10/2025]
ROGER A. SHELDON FRS : CURRICULUM VITAE (March 2020), [URL: https://www.franksheldon.nl/CV.aspx; last accessed: 29/10/2025] |
| Code | NA9971 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/2015/38 | Sheldon, Roger Arthur: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 30 April 2015 |
| IM/007690 | Sheldon, Roger Arthur | 2015 |