View source for Frans C. De Schryver

{{short description|Physical chemist}}
[[File:Frans C. De Schryver.jpg|thumb|Frans C. De Schryver <ref>{{Cite web|title=Home {{!}} Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten|url=https://www.kvab.be/|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.kvab.be}}</ref>]]
'''Frans Carl De Schryver''' (born September 21, 1939) is a Belgian chemist currently serving as Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry of the [[KU Leuven]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=KU Leuven who's who - Frans De Schryver |url=https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/en/person/00011352 |access-date=2023-05-27 |website=www.kuleuven.be |language=en}}</ref> Pursuing his interests in polymer synthesis, time and space resolved chemistry, he founded the Laboratory for Photochemistry and Spectroscopy at the KU Leuven. He has co-authored over 650 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
== Early life and education ==
Frans Carl De Schryver was born in [[Sint-Niklaas]] on September 21, 1939. He carried out his undergraduate studies in Physical Chemistry at [[KU Leuven]]. After the obligatory military service, he pursued his career in science with a PhD in polymer chemistry in the laboratory of Prof Dr. Georges Smets. During the same period, he married his wife Suzy, in 1962, and became father of two daughters, Dominique and Catherine.
He completed his PhD in 1964, and with the encouragement of his supervisor, Prof. Smets, followed it with a Post-Doctoral stay (with a [[Fulbright Fellowship]]) at the [[University of Arizona]], Tucson in the group of [[Carl Shipp Marvel|Prof. Cars Shipp Marvel]]. Although the initial focus of his Post-Doctoral stay was polymer synthesis, he became more and more interested in photochemistry. This new interest was partially driven by the possibilities it could offer to the photographic industry in [[Antwerp]] and the prospects for a potential industrial career upon returning to Belgium. After his stay in Arizona, Frans had short research stays in the groups of [[Theodor Förster|Prof. Theodor Föster]] in 1970 ([[University of Stuttgart|Stuttgart University]], Germany), and [[:de:Albert Weller|Prof. Albert Weller]] in 1971 ([[Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry|Max Planck institute for Biophysical Chemistry]], Germany) with his focus on photochemistry and photophysics, back then an emerging domain.
== Career and work ==
In 1969, Frans obtained a position as an assistant docent at KU Leuven. 4 years later, in 1973, he became an associated professor at the institute. He started building his own research group, which would later evolve into the Laboratory for Photochemistry and Spectroscopy (LPS). In parallel with his research, Frans was also dedicated to education. During his teaching activities the curricula at the KU Leuven changed and new courses including the topics of spectroscopy and photochemistry were introduced by Frans. In 1974, he co-organized a conference (Conference on Photochemistry in polymers) for the first time and in July 1978 Frans co-organized the international conference “7th IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry" in Heverlee, Belgium chaired by [[Nicholas Turro|Prof. Nicholas Turro]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=Pure and Applied Chemistry, VII IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry, Heverlee, Louvain, Belgium, 24–28 July 1978|url=http://publications.iupac.org/pac/conferences/Heverlee_1978-07-24k/index.html|access-date=2020-12-23|website=publications.iupac.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry|url=https://iupac.org/|access-date=2020-12-23|website=IUPAC {{!}} International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry|language=en-US}}</ref> From then he was a driving force involved in a total of 30 conferences and symposia, both national and international. In 1975 Frans De Schrijver became a full professor at KU Leuven.
Prof. De Schryver has been a very active researcher, as demonstrated by the many visiting professor positions he has been offered throughout his career. Some of these include renowned institutions such as the [[Paris-Sud University|Université Paris-Sud]], Orsay, France (1980); the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan (1983); [[British Council]] (1984); [[Academia Sinica]], China (1985) and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Cachan (1992). From 1980 to 2004 he was an extra ordinarius professor at the [[Université catholique de Louvain|Université Catholique de Louvain]]. In addition to his scientific research, he always kept a close relationship with industry, resulting in several patents. Frans was a summer visiting scientist at [[IBM]] (1988), and his laboratory had long-term collaborations in place with other companies that worked on photopolymerization, xerography and novel printing systems (such as [[Agfa-Gevaert]], and [[Imperial Chemical Industries]], later [[AkzoNobel|Akzo Nobel]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Deynse|first1=D. Van|last2=Desie|first2=G.|last3=Schryver|first3=F. C. De|last4=Leenders|first4=L.|date=1987|title=Inhibition or initiation of a radical polymerization reaction by an ultraviolet-induced enzymatic process|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bit.260290402|journal=Biotechnology and Bioengineering|language=en|volume=29|issue=4|pages=403–413|doi=10.1002/bit.260290402|pmid=18576466|s2cid=32086209|issn=1097-0290}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=van Stam|first1=Jan|last2=Creutz|first2=Serge|last3=De Schryver|first3=Frans C.|last4=Jérôme|first4=Robert|date=2000-08-01|title=Tuning of the Exchange Dynamics of Unimers between Block Copolymer Micelles with Temperature, Cosolvents, and Cosurfactants|url=https://doi.org/10.1021/ma992174a|journal=Macromolecules|volume=33|issue=17|pages=6388–6395|doi=10.1021/ma992174a|bibcode=2000MaMol..33.6388V|issn=0024-9297}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Akzo Nobel Completes ICI Acquisition {{!}} AkzoNobel|url=https://www.akzonobel.com/en/for-media/media-releases-and-features/akzo-nobel-completes-ici-acquisition|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.akzonobel.com}}</ref>
Throughout his career Frans was an active member of many evaluation committees and granting institutions, both national and international. He held a seat on several editorial boards of international peer reviewed journals, such as [[Angewandte Chemie]] and was an editor of [[ChemPhysChem]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Benoemd of onderscheiden 4 november 1999|url=https://nieuws.kuleuven.be/nl/campuskrant/1999/15/benoemd-of-onderscheiden-4-november-1999|access-date=2020-12-23|website=nieuws.kuleuven.be|language=nl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=2012-06-21|title=Contents list|url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/pp/c2pp90024f|journal=Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences|language=en|volume=11|issue=7|pages=1113–1120|doi=10.1039/C2PP90024F|issn=1474-9092}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Schryver|first1=Frans C. De|last2=Hynes|first2=James T. (Casey)|date=2009|title=Editorial: Pushing Through Interdisciplinary Boundaries|journal=ChemPhysChem|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=4|doi=10.1002/cphc.200800824|pmid=19130543|issn=1439-7641|doi-access=free}}</ref> and [[Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences|Photochemistry & Photobiological Sciences]] (PPS).<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2010-01-01|title=Happy New Year from Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences|journal=Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences|language=en|volume=9|issue=1|pages=9–10|doi=10.1039/B923802F|issn=1474-9092|last1=De Schryver |first1=Frans |last2=Tyrrell |first2=Rex |last3=Ruthven |first3=Sarah |doi-access=free}}</ref> Serving the science community, he was an evaluator of granting schemes of [[European Research Council|ERC]], [[Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|NWO]], [[Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|FWO]], [[Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft|DFG]], [[AERES]], [[Agence nationale de la recherche|ANR]], [[European Science Foundation|ESF]] and the [[Swedish Research Council]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Yumpu.com|title=panel members in the ERC Advanced Grant 2013 - Europa|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/23378057/panel-members-in-the-erc-advanced-grant-2013-europa|access-date=2020-12-23|website=yumpu.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Jaarverslag Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - FWO|url=https://www.vlaanderen.be/publicaties/jaarverslag-fonds-wetenschappelijk-onderzoek-fwo|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.vlaanderen.be|language=nl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hcéres|first=Rapport|date=2010-06-17|title=LCPO - Laboratoire de chimie des polymères organiques|url=https://hal-hceres.archives-ouvertes.fr/hceres-02033745|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Review Panel : European Science Foundation|url=http://archives.esf.org/coordinating-research/eurocores/programmes/sons-1/committees/review-panel.html|access-date=2020-12-23|website=archives.esf.org}}</ref> In Belgium, Frans became an official member of the ‘Klasse van de Natuurwetenschappen’ of the [[Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts|Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and Arts]] in October 1989. In 2002 he became President of the ‘Klasse van de Natuurwetenschappen’ and is currently still an emeritus member.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://kvab.be/sites/default/rest/?q=leden/id/302&_=popup&width=768&height=720&iframe=true|title=Frans de Schryver|language=nl|access-date=2020-12-23|website=kvab.be}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Missie {{!}} Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten|url=https://www.kvab.be/nl/missie|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.kvab.be}}</ref> At the start of the academic year 2004-2005 Frans officially became Professor Emeritus at the department of Chemistry, faculty of science at KU Leuven.
Up to this day, Frans remains passionate about science and is still enjoying the newest developments in the fields of photochemistry and photophysics. In 2019 he was an Emeritus Guest on the 25th International Anniversary Workshop on “Single Molecule Spectroscopy and Super-resolution Microscopy in the Life Sciences” in Berlin.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Single Molecule Workshop {{!}} PicoQuant|url=https://www.picoquant.com/events/detail/single-molecule-workshop-2019|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.picoquant.com}}</ref> In that same year, Frans turned 80, which was an occasion celebrated by a unique symposium in Leuven, bringing together many national and international friends and colleagues from throughout his whole career.<ref>{{Cite web|title=home|url=https://www.let-there-b-light.com/|access-date=2020-12-23|website=Let there be light|language=en}}</ref> This symposium was organized by a small team of the division of molecular imaging and photonics, KU Leuven. Among this team were two of his former PhD students (Prof. Johan [https://www.hofkenslab.com/ Hofkens] & [http://defeytergroup.org/ Prof. Steven De Feyter]), now both heading their own groups in the [https://chem.kuleuven.be/en department of Chemistry at KU Leuven].
== Scientific work ==
As a polymer scientist Frans De Schryver finished his master-thesis in 1961 with the title “Reaction of Phenyl Isocyanate with Aryl Amines”.<ref name=":1" /> Four years later he delivered his PhD-thesis on the “Influence of the Viscosity on the Photopolymerization of Styrene”.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Boens|first1=Noel|last2=Feyter|first2=Steven De|last3=Hofkens|first3=Johan|last4=Viaene|first4=Lucien|last5=Auweraer|first5=Mark Van der|date=2005|title=Frans De Schryver: Forty Years of Photochemistry and Photophysics|journal=ChemPhysChem|language=en|volume=6|issue=11|pages=2215–2217|doi=10.1002/cphc.200500424|pmid=16273573|issn=1439-7641|doi-access=free}}</ref> The beginning years of his career were mainly focused on the study of excited states of organic synthetic systems. Slowly his research focus was shifting more towards photoinitiated polymerization. Upon his return to KU Leuven he founded his research group, that would evolve to become the “Laboratory of Photochemistry and Spectroscopy”. At the end of eighties through a summer stay at the IBM Laboratory at Almaden, contacts with the group of Prof. Urs Wild ([[ETH Zurich|ETH]]) and participation in the research board of Prof. Masuhara's Erato project “Micro-photoconversion” it became clear to Frans and his coworkers that spatial resolution was the next important step forward.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Chemistry|first1=Address Dep of|last2=Wild|first2=Applied Biosc Prof Dr Urs|title=Wild, Urs, Prof. Dr. {{!}} ETH Zurich|url=https://chab.ethz.ch/en/the-department/people/emeriti/person-detail.html|access-date=2020-12-23|website=chab.ethz.ch|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO) research funding program.|url=https://www.jst.go.jp/erato/en/research_area/completed/mkh_P.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=ERATO}}</ref> From then the lab started to invest in optical microscopy. After his promotion to full professor at KU Leuven his scope shifted more towards photophysics of organic systems including time resolved spectroscopy. From the mid-nineties the lab also started to study time and space resolved spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy, to unravel the fundamentals of super and supramolecular systems.
In 1993 Frans was awarded a [[Alexander von Humboldt Foundation|Humboldt fellowship]], which he carried out at MPI Mainz with Prof. Gerhard Wegner. One of his colleagues was [[Jürgen P. Rabe|Dr. Jürgen Rabe]] (later professor), who had just returned from Almaden where he had made the first Scanning Tunneling Microscopy images of organic molecules on graphite. On his return to Belgium Frans set up a research program “Scaling down in time and space" going from picosecond time resolution to femtosecond spectroscopy, installing scanning probe microscopy and optical microscopy. Together with young colleagues the research group contributed extensively to advances in the field of scanning probe and single molecule microscopy. All the work of Frans’ laboratory and his collaborations resulted in a major contribution towards the scientific community and is internationally recognized. This is proven by the [[Institute for Scientific Information|ISI]] report where more than 650 publications are reported in peer reviewed journals, a reported [[h-index]] of 94 in [[Google Scholar]] and a [[ResearchGate]] score of 50.88, among others.<ref>{{Cite web|title=frans de schryver|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=n-CA-nAAAAAJ&hl=en|access-date=2020-12-23|website=scholar.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Profile Frans C De Schryver|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frans_De_Schryver|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Research Gate}}</ref>
The research done by Frans’ group was always characterized by both fundamental knowledge and the drive to unravel new mechanisms as well as important international collaborations with synthetically and photo-physically oriented groups. In order to set up both scientific networks and symposia to disseminate knowledge, networking became an important part of his scientific career. His professional Curriculum Vitae, from 1986 - 2004, contains almost 160 attended conferences where he was selected as invited speaker.<ref>{{Cite web|title=KU Leuven who's who - Frans De Schryver|url=https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/en/person/00011352|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.kuleuven.be}}</ref> In institutions across the globe he visited more than 80 institutions, amongst them prestigious institutions in Germany (MPI for Polymer Research), United States (University of Arizona) and Japan (Osaka University). All the time and effort spent in research, teaching and travelling was recognized by the scientific community. Since the start of his career Professor De Schryver has been acknowledged with more than 50 professional nominations and 22 academic nominations. Apart from these, Frans has been honored with a few very prestigious awards.
== Honours and awards ==
* '''1964''': [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright Research Fellowship]] (USA)
* '''1971:''' Laureaat Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen & Kunsten (1971) <ref name=":1" />
* '''1993''': Senior Research Awardee of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany) <ref>{{Cite web|title=Prof. Dr. Frans Carl De Schryver|url=https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview?tx_rsmavhsolr_solrview[pPersonId]=1005229&cHash=36a1f6ce2e496b0d7767f3c6ed77820f|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.humboldt-foundation.de|language=en}}</ref>
* '''1995''': American Association for the Advancement of Science ([[American Association for the Advancement of Science|AAAS]]) fellow <ref>{{Cite web|title=Historic Fellows {{!}} American Association for the Advancement of Science|url=https://www.aaas.org/fellows/historic|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.aaas.org|language=en}}</ref>
* '''1997''': Chaire Bruylants award (Belgium) <ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Engelkamp|first1=Hans|last2=Hatzakis|first2=Nikos S.|last3=Hofkens|first3=Johan|last4=Schryver|first4=Frans C. De|last5=Nolte|first5=Roeland J. M.|author-link5=Roeland J. M. Nolte |last6=Rowan|first6=Alan E.|date=2006-02-20|title=Do enzymes sleep and work?|url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2006/cc/b516013h|journal=Chemical Communications|language=en|issue=9|pages=935–940|doi=10.1039/B516013H|pmid=16491170|hdl=2066/35945 |s2cid=1460026 |issn=1364-548X|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
* '''1998''': Porter Medalist, awarded jointly by the European, Inter-American, and Japanese Photochemical Societies <ref>{{Cite web|title=The Porter Medal - Previous Winners|url=http://www.portermedal.com/winners.html|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.portermedal.com|archive-date=2021-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118132209/http://www.portermedal.com/winners.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* '''1998''': Francqui Chair (Belgium) <ref>{{Cite web|title=Titularissen – Fondation Francqui – Stichting|url=http://www.francquifoundation.be/new-page-4/francqui-leerstoel-limietdatum-1-oktober/titularissen/|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.francquifoundation.be|archive-date=2021-11-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117234006/http://www.francquifoundation.be/new-page-4/francqui-leerstoel-limietdatum-1-oktober/titularissen/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* '''1999''': Havinga Medal (The Netherlands) <ref>{{Cite web|title=Laureates|url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/havinga-foundation/laureates|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.universiteitleiden.nl|language=en}}</ref>
* '''1999''': Förster Memorial Lecturer (German Chemical Society) <ref>{{Cite web|title=Benoemd of onderscheiden 2 september 1999|url=https://nieuws.kuleuven.be/nl/campuskrant/1999/11/benoemd-of-onderscheiden-2-september-1999|access-date=2020-12-23|website=nieuws.kuleuven.be|language=nl}}</ref>
* '''2000''': Frontiers in Biochemistry Award (MPI Mulheim) <ref>{{Cite web|title=Frontiers Award {{!}} MPI CEC|url=https://cec.mpg.de/1/institute/frontiers-award/|access-date=2020-12-23|website=cec.mpg.de}}</ref>
* '''2001''': [[:de:Max-Planck-Forschungspreis|Max Planck Forschungs Prize]] (Germany)
* '''2002''': International Award of the Japanese Photochemical Society (Japan) <ref name=":0" />
* '''2005''': Special medal of The University of Groningen (The Netherlands) <ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hofkens|first1=Johan|last2=Kamat|first2=Prashant V.|date=2018-01-12|title=A Conversation with Frans C. De Schryver|journal=ACS Energy Letters|volume=3|issue=1|pages=191–192|doi=10.1021/acsenergylett.7b01289|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* '''2005''': ChemPhysChem published a special issue to honour Prof. De Schryver. “Frans De Schryver: Forty Years of Photochemistry and Photophysics” <ref name=":2" />
* '''2007''': Blaise Pascal medal (European Academy of Sciences),<ref>{{Cite web|title=European Academy of Sciences - Frans de Schryver|url=https://www.eurasc.org/user/236/frans-de-schryver.|access-date=2020-12-23|website=www.eurasc.org}}</ref> Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry <ref>{{Cite web|title=Benoemd of onderscheiden 14 maart 2007|url=https://nieuws.kuleuven.be/nl/campuskrant/0607/08/benoemd-of-onderscheiden-14-maart-2007|access-date=2020-12-23|website=nieuws.kuleuven.be|language=nl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Archief|url=https://nieuws.kuleuven.be/persdienst/campuskrant/archief|access-date=2020-12-23|website=nieuws.kuleuven.be|language=nl}}</ref>
* '''2019''': On the occasion of his 80th anniversary, the Molecular Imaging and Photonics division at the KU Leuven organized a one-day symposium to honor his scientific career, bringing together scientists from different generations who played an important role in his career. The list of speakers included [[Ben Feringa]], Tanja Weil, Roeland Nolte, Klaus Müllen, Jürgen Rabe, Hiroshi Masuhara, [[Thomas Ebbesen]], Loredana Latterini, Paolo Samori, Markus Sauer and Hua Zhang.
== References ==
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[[Category:Belgian chemists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1939 births]]