Ezio Rizzardo (born 26 December 1943 in

Pederobba Pederobba ( vec, Pederoba) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about northwest of Treviso. As of 31 December 2021, it had a population of 7,280 and an area ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) is a polymer chemist at the Australian research agency

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

Biography

Born in Italy, Rizzardo's family immigrated to Australia in 1957. After graduating from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

, he studied the photochemistry of organic nitro compounds at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

, receiving his PhD in organic chemistry in 1969. He has worked on polymer chemistry at CSIRO since 1976.

Research

His research interests include the kinetics and mechanisms of radical polymerization, and their commercial application. Rizzardo is an acknowledged expert in chemical methods to control the polymer architecture produced by free radical polymerization. His innovations include two techniques for polymer synthesis,

nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization Nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization is a method of radical polymerization that makes use of an nitroxide initiator to generate polymers with well controlled stereochemistry and a very low dispersity. It is a type of reversible-deactivation rad ...

(NMP) and

reversible addition−fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization Reversible addition−fragmentation chain-transfer or RAFT polymerization is one of several kinds of reversible-deactivation radical polymerization. It makes use of a chain-transfer agent in the form of a thiocarbonylthio compound (or similar, fr ...

(RAFT). He is named as co-inventor on more than 40 patents.

Awards and honours

Rizzardo has received multiple awards from CSIRO and the

Royal Australian Chemical Institute The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) is both the qualifying body in Australia for professional chemists and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry in all its branches. The RACI hosts conferences, seminars an ...

for his achievements, as well as the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate ...

(2003) and the

Prime Minister's Prize for Science The Prime Minister's Prizes for Science are annual Australian awards for outstanding achievements in scientific research, innovation, and teaching. The prizes have been awarded since 2000, when they replaced the Australia Prize for science. The ...

(2011). In 2014, research by Thomson Reuters for their citation laureate prize named Rizzardo as one of three CSIRO scientists who were likely contenders for the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

, citing their work on RAFT. Rizzardo quipped that he would not be holding his breath on the night the prizes were announced. The trio had been awarded the ATSE Clunies-Ross Award earlier in the year. He is a fellow 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 So ...

(2002) and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

(2010). He was appointed

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rizzardo, Ezio Living people 20th-century Australian scientists 20th-century chemists 21st-century Australian scientists 21st-century chemists Australian chemists 21st-century Australian inventors Australian people of Italian descent CSIRO people Patent holders Polymer scientists and engineers Companions of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal 1943 births