Emeritus Prof. Reuben Rieke was awarded the ORCA in 1995. Reuben was born in Fairfax, Minnesota. Something in his youth must have sparked an interest in science because he traveled 100 miles east to The University of Minnesota where he earned a bachelor’s in chemistry. Next, he earned a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, and did postdoctoral work at the University of California Los Angeles. In 1977, after about 11 years as a faculty member in the chemistry department at the University of North Carolina, he joined UNL as a full professor of chemistry. I’ll share two remarkable facts about Reuben before we get into the interview. One is that his lab found a way to make highly reactive metal halides, now called Rieke Metals, that are useful in many synthetic reactions. The other fact is that Reuben started his own company in 1991 to produce ...