Biography - Thomas Albrecht

Thomas Albrecht is a solid-state inorganic chemist who has transformed our understanding of the periodic table through his structural studies of f-block elements. He and his group at the Colorado School of Mines synthesize, crystallize, and determine the structure of compounds of lanthanides and actinides. In his 2024 Buerger Award lecture, he presented his long-term studies of actinide elements from curium to einsteinium. These are unstable, radioactive elements that are obtained in only tiny quantities, which quickly decay, some in weeks or days. Thus, the title of his talk was “A Race Against Time: Crystallography in the Outer Limits of the Periodic Table.” In a decades-long project, he and his group utilized quantum mechanical calculations in addition to structural and spectroscopic data. Their results show a complex and interesting non-lanthanide chemistry for these elements.

Albrecht’s research has been recognized worldwide. He received the Glenn T. Seaborg Award in Nuclear Chemistry (American Chemical Society) and the Martin J. Buerger Award (American Crystallographic Association). He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.