Mark A. Ratner (1942-2026): Founded molecular electronics while spearheading the growth of science at Northwestern University

Recently, we lost one of the original developers of the field of molecular electronics. Mark A. Ratner wrote a famous paper in 1974 that developed the theoretical framework for making a molecule act as a rectifier. This idea, and a host of further ideas that were stimulated by this and other papers, led to a huge amount of experimental and theoretical studies that continue to this day. But Mark's career was much more than that, with leadership at Northwestern University and beyond that continues to shape the scientific enterprise.