Ilya Prigogine

1917-

Russian-born Belgian chemist who received the 1977 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for work concerning non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the theory of dissipative structures.

Prigogine's family escaped revolutionary Russia shortly after his birth, resettling in Belgium, where he spent the rest of his life. Prigogine was one of the first chemists to explore the thermodynamics of chemical systems in transition between two equilibrium states, arriving at important and fundamental discoveries that were not fully appreciated until much later.