Prof. Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn, Ph.D. is a Professor at the University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study (USIAS), Honorary Professor at the Collège de France in Paris and Emeritus Professor at the University of Strasbourg. He has been the Chairman of Chemistry of Molecular Interactions at the Collège de France in Paris since 1979. In 1968, he achieved the synthesis of cage-like molecules (cryptands) containing a cavity (crypt) into which another entity, molecule or ion of specific nature, can be lodged, forming a cryptate. Over the years his studies led to the definition of a new field of chemistry, which he called “supramolecular chemistry”. It deals with the complex entities formed by the association of two or more chemical species held together by intermolecular forces. In 1987, Jean Marie Lehn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, together with Donald Cram and Charles J. Pedersen.

Professor Lehn founded the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) in Strasbourg in 2002. He has been involved in a large number of public and private boards and committees as well as participated in several start-up companies. As a president of the non-governmental organization International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD), he aims, together with a group of dedicated colleagues, to contribute to helping chemists in developing countries. Author of more than 900 scientific publications and 2 books, Lehn is a member of many academies and institutions. He has received numerous international honours and awards, among them Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (1993), Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur (1996), Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst, (first class) (2001) and the Grosses Verdienstkreuz mit Stern der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (2009).