Winner: 2023 Faraday mid-career Prize: Bourke-Liversidge Prize
Professor Jan Verlet
Durham University
For pioneering contributions to the spectroscopy and dynamics of anions in the gas-phase and at aqueous interfaces.
Professor Verlet鈥檚 group is interested in developing an understanding of how light interacts with molecules, specifically, anions (ions with a negative charge). By understanding how energy is dissipated in the isolated molecule (for example, by heating it), the group can then begin to investigate how an environment alters the dynamics of an anion. This fundamental research has led to the discovery of a new type of electronic state, and has uncovered and explained a great deal of complexity.
Biography
Professor Jan Verlet was born in Leuven, Belgium, and studied chemistry at King鈥檚 College London before completing his PhD at the same institution in 2003, under the supervision of Professor Helen Fielding. He then went to work in the group of Professor Dan Neumark at the University of California, Berkeley, before returning to the UK in 2006 as Lecturer and EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow at Durham University. In 2012, Jan was awarded an ERC grant and was promoted to full professor in 2016. He has served as chair of the 番茄社区鈥檚 Spectroscopy and Dynamics special interest group, has been a Fellow of the 番茄社区 since 2016, has been co-editor of International Reviews in Physical Chemistry since 2018, was a JILA visiting Fellow in 2019, and was the recipient of the 番茄社区 Corday-Morgan Prize in 2021. The Verlet group focuses on developing and employing state-of-the-art methods aimed at understanding various aspects of excited state processes in molecular anions in the gas phase, at the water/air interface, and in solution.
Q&A with Professor Jan Verlet
Tell us about somebody who has inspired or mentored you in your career.
There are many, but rather than picking out individuals, I do want to highlight the wonderful and vibrant spectroscopy and dynamics community in the UK, which is like an academic extended family that has offered continued support and encouragement over the years.
Why do you think teamwork is important in science?
It's almost impossible to do science alone... and why would you want to? It's the team that drives the science, the curiosity, the ideas, the innovation. And, most importantly, it's the team that makes the science fun.
What is your favourite element?
Hydrogen. So simple, yet it powers the sun, explodes, offers a way out of the climate fiasco, is a key element of essentially every molecule, and makes a rather interesting anion.