1937-

Polish-American chemist who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1981 for his work on the mathematical prediction of electron behavior in chemical reactions. Interested in studying the electron structures and reaction patterns of molecules, he considers himself an "applied theoretical chemist" who uses experimental results on specific molecules as the starting point for generalized models of molecular activity. A professor at Cornell University since 1965, Hoffmann is also an accomplished essayist and poet.