Born July 21, 1923 in Montreal, Canada. Married Laura Hearne, 1949 (three sons: Alan, Kenneth, and Raymond); USA Citizen (naturalized 1958).
B.Sc. in Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 1943; Ph.D. in Chemistry, McGill University, 1946
Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology, 1978- ; Professor, University of Illinois, 1964-78; Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, 1951-64; Postdoctoral Research, University of North Carolina, 1949-51 and National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 1946-49; Member, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University,1960-61; Professorial Fellow, University College, University of Oxford, 1975-76; Visiting Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, IBM, University of Oxford, England, 1975-76; Linnett Visiting Professor of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, 1996; Honorary Professor, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 1994-, and of Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 1995- ; Honorary Fellow, University College, Oxford, 1995-
D.Sc.h.c., University of Chicago, 1983, Polytechnic University, 1986, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 1988, University of New Brunswick, St. John, Canada 1993, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada 1993, University of Oxford, England, 1995, University of North Carolina, 1996, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel, 1998, Fil.dr.h.c., University of Göteborg, Sweden, 1987, D.h.c., Yokohama National University, Japan, 1996
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1970- ; Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1973- ; Foreign Member, The Royal Society (London), 1987- ; Member, International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, 1987- ; Member, American Philosophical Society, 1990- ; Honorary Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, 1991- ; Foreign Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, 1993- ; Honorary Member, International Society of Electrochemistry, 1994- ; Advisor of the Center for Molecular Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and of the State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, Beijing, China, 1995 -; Honorary Editor, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry 1996 -; Honorary Member, Korean Chemical Society, 1996- ; Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1998-
Honors and Awards include the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1992; National Medal of Science, 1989; Wolf Prize in Chemistry, 1985; Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics, Am. Chem. Soc., 1978; Robinson Medal, Faraday Division, Royal Society of Chemistry, 1982; Chandler Medal, Columbia University, New York, 1983; Willard Gibbs Medal, Am. Chem. Soc., Chicago Section, 1988; Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry, Am. Chem. Soc., 1988; Centenary Medal, Faraday Division, Royal Society of Chemistry, 1988; Theodore William Richards Medal, Am. Chem. Soc., Northeastern Section, 1990; Linus Pauling Award, Am. Chem. Soc., Oregon, Portland, and Puget Sound Sections, 1991; Edgar Fahs Smith Award, Am. Chem. Soc., Philadelphia Section, 1991; Remsen Award, Am. Chem. Soc., Maryland Section, 1991; Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry, 1993; American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award, 1993; Honorary Citizen of Winnipeg, 1994; Lavoisier Medal, Société Française de Chimie, 1994; Treasure of Los Angeles, 1995; Auburn-Kosolapoff Award, Am. Chem. Soc., Auburn Section, 1996; Theoretical Chemistry Award, Am. Chem. Soc., 1997; Oesper Award, Am. Chem. Soc., Cincinnati Section, 1997; Top 75 Award, Chemical and Engineering News, Am. Chem. Soc., Boston, 1998.
Dr. Marcus' research in many fields of theoretical chemical kinetics includes theories of electron transfer reactions, unimolecular reactions (RRKM theory), electrode reactions, various transfer reactions, semiclassical theory of collisions and of bound states, intramolecular dynamics, solvent dynamics, and chemical reaction coordinates.