Nobel Laureate and UT Dallas faculty member, Dr. Alan G. MacDiarmid, dies

by PegNews wire

Dr. Alan G. MacDiarmid, 79, died on Wednesday after falling down the stairs of his Philadelphia home. Dr. MacDiarmid was rushing to catch a plane to New Zealand to see his siblings when he fell. Tragically, he had been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and was only expected to live for a few weeks longer. The trip was going to be his opportunity to say goodbye to his family members.

Dr. MacDiarmid became a faculty member at UT Dallas in 2002. He received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000, shared with Dr. Alan J. Heeger of UC Santa Barbara and Dr. Hideki Shirakawa of the University of Tsukuba in Tokyo, "for the discovery and development of conductive polymers."

Dr. MacDiarmid is survived by his wife, four children, and nine grandchildren, as well as his brothers and sister in New Zealand.