A Canadian-born American chemist and professor at Stanford, Henry Taube has dedicated over fifty years to research and teaching. In addition to conducting important research in the mechanics of electron transfer reactions in complex metals, Taube has contributed greatly to increase our understanding major concepts in inorganic chemistry with applications in the chemical industry. For his work in this field, Taube received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1983.

Taube, the youngest of four boys, was born on November 30, 1915, in Neudorf, Saskatchewan, Canada, to Samuel Taube and Albertina Tiledetzski. His parents were Ukrainian peasants, who moved from their home near Kiev to Saskatchewan in 1911 to escape the tyranny of the tsar. Although his parents were uneducated and poor, they were very astute and worked hard to develop a farm. Taube himself considered farm work and its lessons of perseverance a valuable part of his education. At the age of...