Jan-Erling Bäckvall

Jan-Erling Bäckvall was born in Malung, Sweden, in 1947. He received his Ph.D. from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, in 1975 under the guidance of Prof. B. Åkermark. After postdoctoral work (1975-76) with Prof. K. B. Sharpless at Massachusetts Institute of Technology he joined the faculty at the Royal Institute of Technology in 1976. He was appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry at Uppsala University in 1986. In 1997 he moved to Stockholm University where he is currently Professor of Organic Chemistry.

Awards, Honours, etc.

1985   Teacher of the year of the Chemistry Section, Royal Institute of Technology
1986   Arrhenius medal
1987   Organic Synthesis inc. Distinguished Lecturer
1990   Upper Rhine Lecturer
1993   Weissberger‑William Lecturer, Eastman Kodak
1996   The Sandoz Lectureship Award
1997   Senior Individual Grant Award to Outstanding Senior Scientists
2001  Grant Award for Excellent Research Environments from the Swedish Research Council (VR)
2002   Pfizer Pharmaceutical Lecturer, USA
2002   Oppolzer Lecturer, University of Geneva
2002   Celsius Medal in Gold
2003   Frontiers in Chemical Research Distinguished Lecturer at Texas A&M, USA
2003   The “August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann Lectureship Award”
2003   The “Björkén Prize” (Björkénska priset)
2003  Grant Award for Excellent Research Environments from the Swedish Research Council (VR)
2004   Reilly Lecturer at University of Notre Dame , Indiana , USA
2005   Ulla and Stig Holmquist’s Prize in Organic Chemistry
2006   The Lilly Lecture 2005/2006, University of Karlsruhe, Germany
2006   Herbert C. Brown Lecturer at Purdue University, Indiana, USA
2008  Organic Syntheses Lectureship Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigne, USA
2008 Jeremiah P. Freeman Organic Synthesis Lectureship, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
2009   2009 Groningen Stereochemistry Lecturer, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
2010   Obtained an ERC Advanced Grant