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New Zealand and American flags flew at half-mast outside the Hunter Building at Victoria University's Kelburn campus yesterday to mark the passing of one of New Zealand's greatest scientists.
Nobel Laureate Professor Alan MacDiarmid, a Victoria alumnus, died on Wednesday after a fall at home in Philadelphia while preparing to travel to New Zealand. He was 79.
In 2000 Professor MacDiarmid became the country's third Nobel Prize winner (after Sir Ernest Rutherford and Maurice Wilkins), winning the chemistry prize for his work with Alan Heeger and Hideki Shirakawa on making plastics conduct electricity.
The breakthrough paved the way for cheap plastic batteries and light-emitting diodes used in television screens and cellphones, among other things.
Professor MacDiarmid was born in Masterton in 1927, the fifth child of former marine engineer Archibald MacDiarmid and Ruby Graham, the daughter of a surveyor.
His family was relatively poor, and the Depression made life difficult.
His interest in chemistry was kindled when, aged 10, he found one of his father's old chemistry textbooks.
Despite being very bright, he had to leave Hutt Valley High School at 16 when his father retired on a small pension and shifted to Kerikeri in Northland. The young student stayed in Wellington and supported himself.
In 1944, he took a part-time, low-paying job as a lab boy in the chemistry department at then Victoria University College.
He also took part-time courses in chemistry and mathematics, remaining a part-time student until he graduated in 1951 with first-class honours in chemistry.
In 1950, he received a Fulbright fellowship from the US State Department to do a PhD at the University of Wisconsin, where he met his wife Marian.
After a brief appointment at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, he joined the chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he remained.
Although he became an American citizen, Professor MacDiarmid maintained strong links with New Zealand, frequently travelling back to give talks and to visit his brothers and sisters.
As a mark of respect, American flags were flown at half-mast at the American Embassy in Wellington and the consulate in Auckland yesterday and will again today.
Nephew Murray MacDiarmid, who organised a family reunion in 2004, said his uncle had a few favourite quips, such as "ask simple questions" and "as long as you're asking questions, you know you're still alive".
He remembers him as a passionate, energetic man who remained down-to-earth.
"He loved interacting with people."
Professor MacDiarmid was 73 when he received his Nobel prize, but New Zealand colleagues said he was still working 12-hour days and travelling frequently to work on research projects around the globe.
He once interrupted a trip to Australia to fly to Pennsylvania to teach a class, after which he returned to Australia to pick up where he had left off.
And though the professor was in a laboratory somewhere every day, he was also an avid sun-worshipper - a naturist who also liked waterskiing.
Professor MacDiarmid was awarded the Rutherford Medal, New Zealand's top science award, in 2000. He became a member of the Order of New Zealand in 2001.
He leaves behind partner Gayl Gentile and four children from his marriage to Marian, who died in 1990.
- Additional reporting NZPA
Legacy
New Zealander Alan MacDiarmid's Nobel Prize-winning legacy of work on creating plastics which can conduct electricity will literally leave the world a brighter place, says Professor Paul Callaghan, of Victoria University in Wellington.
Professor MacDiarmid jointly won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2000 for helping create conducting polymers. Among their uses are organic light-emitting diodes.
"They're leading to new types of video displays - some of the new cellphone displays, for instance - and replace liquid crystal and plasma tube displays," said Professor Callaghan, director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at the university.
"We are going to see a much more visually bright and moving world around us in the future, and his work is going to make electronics a lot more ubiquitous and a lot cheaper. Instead of using silicon chips and soldering joints, it will be done with printing of circuits - it will be possible to mass produce electronic circuits much more cheaply and on all sorts of surfaces."
The discovery that a thin film of polyacetylene could be oxidised with iodine vapour, increasing its electrical conductivity a billion times, made it possible for plastics to be used to reduce static electricity and interference on photographic film and computer screens.
The plastics were also used in the development of new colour television screens and "smart windows" that reflect sunlight.
In addition, semi-conductive polymers were developed in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), solar cells and as displays in mobile telephones and mini-format television screens.
Flat television screens based on OLED film, luminous traffic signs and information signs are on the way, as manufacturers develop light-emitting wallpaper for homes.
Tributes
He made a great contribution to science and education. Although his discoveries - including those in conductive polymers which won him the Nobel Prize - will continue to improve lives around the world, and advancements will continue, this is small consolation to his family and colleagues at this sad time. New Zealand, Victoria, the scientific community and his family have lost a great scientist and a great man.
- Professor Pat Walsh, vice-chancellor of Victoria University
He advocated strongly for emerging researchers and continued to teach first-year students throughout his career - he loved to teach and was very down to earth.
- Professor Ashton Partridge, director of the Nanomaterials Research Centre, Massey University
While Professor MacDiarmid was born here in New Zealand and spent many years working in the United States, his contributions were truly global. He leaves behind an enormous scientific legacy and he will be profoundly missed around the world. Those here at the Embassy who knew him will remember him for his kindness, his humour, and his generosity of spirit.
- William McCormick, US Ambassador
He will be remembered for outstanding scientific achievements, for being a wonderful human being, for a tremendous generosity of spirit, for his pride in being a New Zealander, and for his contribution of service to our country.
-Helen Clark, Prime Minister
