Edward I. Stiefel

Edward I. Stiefel, Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University and associated faculty member of the Princeton Environmental Institute until his untimely death in summer of 2006. His research involved the role of metal ions in biological systems including: iron in marine environments, especially the iron storage and DNA protective proteins ferritin and Dps; the biological production of hydrogen by phototropic hydrogenases and theoretical studies of hydrogenase action; the role of molybdenum in biology; and aspects of metals in medicine. He taught courses on the Elements of Life for freshman, Astrobiology for sophomores and Metals in Biology for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. He served on the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science and the Board of Editors of the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. Stiefel was the Sacconi Lecturer in Florence in 2002 and the Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Louisville in 2003 where he was named a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor of Kentucky. He won the American Chemical Society Award in Inorganic Chemistry for the year 2000. Ed Stiefel will be greatly missed by all who knew him.