Andrew Bruce Holmes (born 5 September 1943) is an Australian and British senior research chemist and professor at the Bio21 Institute,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia, and the past President of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

. His research interests lie in the synthesis of biologically-active

natural products A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical s ...

(spanning therapeutic materials to new biotechnological probes) and optoelectronic polymers (with applications to

electroluminescent Electroluminescence (EL) is an optical and electrical phenomenon, in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field. This is distinct from black body light emission resulting from ...

flexible displays A flexible display or rollable display is an electronic visual display which is flexible in nature, as opposed to the traditional flat screen displays used in most electronic devices. In recent years there has been a growing interest from nume ...

and organic solar cells).

Education

Holmes' undergraduate studies and masters' research were conducted at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

where he was resident at

Ormond College Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents. H ...

. Travelling to the UK on a Shell Overseas Science Scholarship, he performed his PhD work at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

under the supervision of

Franz Sondheimer Franz Sondheimer FRS (17 May 1926 – 11 February 1981) was a German-born British professor of chemistry. In 1960, he was awarded the Israel Prize for his contributions to science. Biography Franz Sondheimer was born in Stuttgart on 17 May 1926 ...

Career and research

As a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

, Holmes worked on the total synthesis of Vitamin B₁₂ with Albert Eschenmoser. In 1972 he was appointed as a demonstrator to the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

where he stayed for 32 years, ultimately as Professor of Organic and

Polymer Chemistry Polymer chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that focuses on the structures, chemical synthesis, and chemical and physical properties of polymers and macromolecules. The principles and methods used within polymer chemistry are also applic ...

, and Director of the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis where he oversaw the founding and initial decade of the Melville Laboratory. Holmes' early work at Cambridge expanded his interest in new techniques for synthesising small molecules that are biologically-active and practically-useful, including

(such as

alkaloids Alkaloids are a broad class of naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. Alkaloids are produced by a large variety of organisms i ...

) and

peptidomimetic A peptidomimetic is a small protein-like chain designed to mimic a peptide. They typically arise either from modification of an existing peptide, or by designing similar systems that mimic peptides, such as peptoids and β-peptides. Irrespective ...

s. In 1989, during systematic characterisation of a newly synthesised

conductive polymer Conductive polymers or, more precisely, intrinsically conducting polymers (ICPs) are organic polymers that conduct electricity. Such compounds may have metallic conductivity or can be semiconductors. The main advantage of conductive polymers ...

, Chloe Jennings working in Holmes' research group observed that the polymer emitted light when a current was passed through it. An intensive period of research in Holmes' group, and other polymer chemistry groups, led to the discovery of differently-coloured light-emitting polymers that spanned the visible colour spectrum. A subsequent collaboration with physicist

Richard Friend Sir Richard Henry Friend (born 18 January 1953) is a British physicist who was the Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge from 1995 until 2020 and is Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapo ...

and co-workers at Cambridge's

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

revealed the potential of these conjugated polymers for applications such as organic LEDs and

rollable display A flexible display or rollable display is an electronic visual display which is flexible in nature, as opposed to the traditional flat screen displays used in most electronic devices. In recent years there has been a growing interest from nume ...

s. Friend and Holmes co-founded the company Cambridge Display Technology for commercial exploitation of these materials – an early success story of Silicon Fen. In 2004 Holmes returned to his native Australia on a Federation Fellowship, to lead a group at the newly established Bio21 Institute. He has pursued the application of photovoltaic polymers to solar energy, and was instrumental in forming the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium. He has also continued to develop new syntheses of novel, biologically-useful materials. An example is his groups' synthesis of

phosphoinositides Phosphatidylinositol or inositol phospholipid is a biomolecule. It was initially called "inosite" when it was discovered by Léon Maquenne and Johann Joseph von Scherer in the late 19th century. It was discovered in bacteria but later also found ...

amphiphilic In chemistry, an amphiphile (), or amphipath, is a chemical compound possessing both hydrophilic (''water-loving'', polar) and lipophilic (''fat-loving'', nonpolar) properties. Such a compound is called amphiphilic or amphipathic. Amphiphilic c ...

phospholipids Phospholipids are a class of lipids whose molecule has a hydrophilic "head" containing a phosphate group and two hydrophobic "tails" derived from fatty acids, joined by an alcohol residue (usually a glycerol molecule). Marine phospholipids typi ...

situated in the

cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extr ...

, which collaborators at the

Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ludwig Cancer Research is an international community of scientists focused on cancer research, with the goal of preventing and controlling cancer. It encompasses the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, an international non-profit organization ...

have used to probe the dynamics of

signal transduction Signal transduction is the process by which a chemical or physical signal is transmitted through a cell as a biochemical cascade, series of molecular events. Proteins responsible for detecting stimuli are generally termed receptor (biology), rece ...

(intercellular signalling being an important component of many aspects of cell biology, including that of

tumors A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

). Holmes has served on the editorial or advisory boards of numerous learned scientific journals, including

Organic Letters ''Organic Letters'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in organic chemistry. It was established in 1999 and is published by the American Chemical Society. In 2014, the journal moved to a hybrid open access publishing m ...

Chemical Communications ''ChemComm'' (or ''Chemical Communications''), formerly known as ''Journal of the Chemical Society D: Chemical Communications'' (1969–1971), ''Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications'' (1972–1995), is a peer-reviewed scientific ...

and

Angewandte Chemie ''Angewandte Chemie'' (, meaning "Applied Chemistry") is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by Wiley-VCH on behalf of the German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker). Publishing formats include feature-length ...

. In 2006, his 1998 paper on electroluminescent polymers was the most highly cited paper in Angewandte Chemie's 120-year history. By August 2012 he had authored over 490 scientific papers and 52 patent applications. In 2014 he was appointed as President of the

Awards and honours

Holmes was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2000, and Fellow of the

in 2006. In 2003, he received the

Descartes Prize The Descartes Prize was an annual award in science given by the European Union, named in honour of the French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes. The prizes recognized Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievements Resulting f ...

and in 2012 the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

of the Royal Society. His formal titles include Chemistry alumnus, Laureate Professor of Chemistry, University of Melbourne; CSIRO Fellow, CSIRO Division of Materials Science and Engineering; Emeritus Professor and Distinguished Research Fellow, Imperial College London;

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

;

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science The Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science is made up of about 500 Australian scientists. Scientists judged by their peers to have made an exceptional contribution to knowledge in their field may be elected to Fellowship of the Academy ...

;

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering There are almost 900 living fellows of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. The post-nominal is FTSE. The following lists many notable living and deceased Fellows. Post-nominal statistics ;Numbers of active/living Fellows i ...

; and Foreign Secretary and (as of 2014) President of the

. In 2011, he received the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

's John B Goodenough Award. In 2004 he was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

"for service to science through research and development, particularly in the fields of organic synthesis and polymer chemistry"; and in 2017 was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to science through developments in the field of organic and polymer chemistry as a researcher, editor and academic, and through the governance of nationally recognised, leading scientific organisations. He was awarded the 2021 Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture.

Personal life

Holmes is a keen hillwalker and an enthusiastic aficionado of classical music, from

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

to romantic opera.Margaret Throsby interviews Andrew Holmes
, ABC Radio's Midday Program, 8 August 2012, Australian Broadcasting Corporation/classic During his time in Cambridge he was a member and regular volunteer at St Columba's United Reformed Church. He lives in

and

Lorne, Victoria Lorne is a town in Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the Louttit Bay and Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road. At the had a population of 1,114. History Prior to British settlement, Lor ...

with his wife Jennifer.

References

External links

List of Royal Society Medalists, 2012
(see also the

)
Andrew Holmes' group website at the University of Melbourne
* ttp://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cc/People/AndrewBHolmes.asp Andrew Holmes' biographical sketch at the Royal Society websitebr>Victorian Organic Solar Cells Consortium

CSIRO press release: "Australian scientist awarded a Royal Medal from the Royal Society London", July 10, 2012Robyn Williams interviews Andrew Holmes for ABC Radio's The Science Show: "The value of international scientific collaborations", May 5, 2012
(transcript and audio file available for download at link) {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Andrew Bruce Living people English chemists Australian chemists Academics of Imperial College London Academics of University College London Academics of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Companions of the Order of Australia 1943 births Organic chemists Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering University of Melbourne alumni Fellows of the Institute of Physics Alumni of University College London Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Presidents of the Australian Academy of Science