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Acceptance Address of DR. RICHARD FRED HECK,

2010 Nobel Prize Laureate for Chemistry, on the occasion of his conferment of the

DOCTOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE, HONORIS CAUSA, by De La Salle University during its 163rd

Commencement Exercises on February 4, 2012 at the Philippine International Convention Center

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Brother Narciso Erguiza, Jr FSC,

President and Chancellor; Dr.

Myrna Austria, Vice Chancellor or

Academics; DLSU administrators

and sta; members o the aculty;

parents; ellow graduates;

distinguished guests, ladies and

gentlemen, MAGANDANG UMAGA

SA INYONG LAHAT.

With a deep sense o humility andhonor, I accept your conerment

on me o the Doctor o Science

degree, honoris causa, while

I remain in constant awe at

the thought that an American

oreigner like me should be so

recognized by an esteemed

university in this part o Asia that

has demonstrated remarkable

evidence in pursuing excellence

in scientic research as well as in

social and human development.

But I may not strictly be a oreigner

to the Philippines as I nd my

bearing in this country, with a

high sense o pride, so much so

that ater my retirement rom

the University o Delaware where

I sat on its aculty until 1989, I

relished the prospect o relocating

permanently in the Philippines. For

all you know, I married a Filipina,

a woman I so dearly loved, she

o great passion and values o

a true-blooded Filipina she was

a treasure to my lie more thanany accolade I have ever had in

my lietime. This woman whom I

passionately cherished had just

recently departed me, on to her

sojourn to the great beyond. So

then I beg your indulgence i, even

at this very moment, you may

sense a semblance o solitude

in my countenance. While we

were not as much blessed with

a child, my wie was simply the

embodiment o everything I lovedabout the Filipino. Her passing has,

truly, let me a chasm I guess only

time can ll.

I wondered i my avowed ealty to this

land might have something to do with

my receiving this awesome honor. Yet

your citation o me declares that you

recognize my path-breaking research

eorts and [my] transormational

inuence on pharmaceutical

development, electronics manuacture,

innovative energy technologies, DNA

sequencing, and disease research,

among others. What an inclusive,humbling citation. I have had a string o

international recognition or my various

works in the eld o academe, but this

one evokes a very special meaning to

me. I never imagined that even in my

twilight years, the country I adopted

to be my own would care to recognize

whatever I may have contributed to

the human society through the natural

sciences.

A LIFE OF

EXCELLENCE

AND HONOR

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My origin was modest and quite ar rom auence. My

parents were common workers in the United States and

lacked a airly competent education. My ather workedas a salesman in a department store. My mother was a

housewie. We lived in the suburb in Massachusetts, that

at my early age, my ather had to move us to a brand-new

yet tiny abode on a barren lot in Caliornia. It was there

that my curiosity about science, particularly chemistry,began to unold. There we had an empty yard where I

got to select and install the plants. I got concerned with

ertilizers and sprays; and I realized I needed to know more

about the nutrients and pigments in plants. That got me

into chemistry, and I ollowed it through to high schooland university at UCLA where I did my PhD in Chemistry

and in Switzerland or my postdoctoral research. I had

never thought that that simple work o planting an empty

yard would bloom and peak into an achievement o the

noblest honor in the world o science. The Nobel Prize orChemistry, which I shared with two ellow scientists Ei-ichi

Negishi and Akira Suzuki, cited my works in palladium-

catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis which made

possible more efcient ways o linking carbon atomstogether to build the complex molecules. The Nobel

Committee in Sweden recognized the impact o palladium

couplings in pharmaceutical manuacturing particularly

in synthesizing molecules, which incidentally paved the

way or signicant advancements in human health andmedicine, and in electronics and energy research.

The chemical process now known as Heck Reaction

revolutionized the manuacture and discovery o drugs,or treating arthritis, cancer, HIV, and painkiller treatments,as well as or DNA sequencing which is essential or

disease research and orensics, specically or the Human

genome Project. The award also recognized my discovery

as responsible or modication o sunscreens and sun-

protective cosmetics relying on Heck Reaction or the

production o octyl methoxycinnamate, a compound that

absorbs the suns ultraviolet rays and is used to reduce theappearance o scars.

I pondered seriously on what I could possibly share to

the De La Salle community and to this graduating class,

apart rom what my proessional travails in the arenao scientic research may have to impart. Does being a

Nobel Laureate necessarily make me the epitome o an

accomplished scholar whose examples young La Sallians

should emulate? I am araid this view might come o

to you as rather ull o air a nd conceit. So I asked myselurther: What is it about me that should make me worthy

to receive this honorary doctorate, and even more worthy

to speak to this bunch o richly potential young minds? I

should like to lit liberally rom your universitys statement

o vision, which in part says: [T]he university harmonizesaith and lie with contemporary knowledge to nurture a

community o distinguished and morally upright scholars

who generate and propagate new knowledge or human

development and social transormation [T]he institutionendeavors to orm Lasallian Achievers or God and

Country who will lead in building a just, peaceul, stable

and progressive Filipino nation.

So resonant a vision which precisely encapsulates whatany scholar or individual equipped with a competitive

package o education should aspire or. As scholars, those

who cultivate a terrain in the sciences or in any other

elds o interest, are not beret o virtues, or divorcedrom their duty to God and nation. The essence o beinga university, to my mind, is exactly to produce a human

power that is imbued with both aith and values, savored

with substantial knowledge capable o carving a powerul

impact that can transorm a community and sustain a

livable human habitat. The essence o being a scholar is

not only to acquire knowledge and discover new skills

to empower onesel, but also to be beholden to duty o,as your university vision says, building a just, peaceul,

stable, and progressive nation. In my thinking, this is

the ethos o postmodern education, the undamental

and distinctive character o learning. Your citation o

me urther writes o my having been able to make atransormational inuence in the world o science as

well as in the industrial technology sectors. I should like

to think that this transormational inuence does not only

nd its way in the peripheries o scientic communities

and technological industries that have, ostensibly,beneted rom my research breakthroughs, but that it

also extendsmore importantlyto the world society-

at-large, where one imagines that it is completely possible

or someone with modest beginnings to accomplish and

contribute as much to the lasting progress and meaninguldevelopment o ones nation and the world.

When I was a neophyte researcher and barely exploring

my passion in the chemical sciences, I was devoid o anyidea o what was to become o my eorts. The uture o

my eorts was somewhat hazy as it did not occur to me

that what I was doing was going to be anything special.

Yet I paddled on and on, unceasingly and relentlessly.

For such is a distinct trait o a scientist, indeatigableand undaunted to see himsel through his never-ending

research journey, until something o empirical value is

attained. Until the year 2010 came when the reality o

having the worlds highest science honor dawned onme. When I was asked by one o your sta on a preludeinterview to this conerment, i I considered having

clinched the Nobel Prize my biggest achievement,

nonchalantly I replied that my biggest excitement

happened the time I earned my PhD. I elt then I was

already a ull-edged scholar, ready to take on anything.

Admittedly, the prestige and ame o a Nobel were

irresistible, and, somehow tempting or sel-glorication.But then I nd my meaning as a scientist in what I have

been able to make o my country, in what I have been able

to contribute to signicantly better the lives o peoples

across cultures and societies. I nd my meaning in what I

can bequeath to this world when the glory and splendoro a celebrated achievement begin to wane, when I will

have to nally desert this earthly habitat and remit mysel

to the Creator.

By and large, I am a by-product o everything aroundme. Academically, I am a sculpture o the University

o Caliornia at Los Angeles, yet I am the output o the

University o Delaware that hammered my proessional

career in the sciences. A universitys honor is gauged,

one way or another, by what becomes o its graduates.Your universitys mission enunciates as much: In an

academic environment permeated by excellence and

scholarship, the institution will train leaders, competent

proessionals, scholars, researchers, and entrepreneurs,who will participate actively in improving the quality

o lie in Philippine society. Leadership, competence,

and scholarship are values attained through continuous

pursuit even outside o the borders o the university. They

are honed by solid experience and painstaking labor, anda stubborn attitude to learn, dig, inquire, and probe. Yet

they are values that must be soaked in pure character, the

totality o personal qualities that make someone a distinct

species rom the rest. Knowledge, skills, or competencecan secure ones uture. But surely, it is ones character thatcan determine the security o ones uture.

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To the graduates, being educated in one o the countrys

best universities presupposes that you got the edge,

not to mention resources to tough it out in the open

world. Whichever path you take, do your job in the

most excellent manner. But as you do, keep your honor

intactnever allow your integrity to be tarnished.

For, honor is not, in the strictest sense, derived rom

achievements or accolades bestowed upon you. Honor

exudes rom inside, rom the beauty o lie that you

choose to live, a lie you keep to be honorable and

unblemished to the very end, by your conduct, by your

disposition, by your leadership, and by your involvement

in the building o your nation. It behooves a genuine

scholar to be both honorable and excellent. A Nobel

Prizeor any award or that matteris simply but a

resounding afrmation that you lived up to honor and

excellence.

Benjamin Franklin once said that success is one percent

inspiration, and 99 percent perspiration. Perhaps he was

just trying to advance the wisdom o hard work. This

early, you have the power to determine the trajectory

o your uture career. But when you already haveestablished your lie, be grateul. Come back and help

build your country, and build it assiduously and rmly

so that it can nally reach its rightul destination in

the global community. By then you will be able to live

up to your schools vision o participating actively in

improving the quality o lie in Philippine society. The

trademark o a Lasallian. Honor spawns humility, and

humility, gratitude.

To the De La Salle University: Thank you very much, or

believing that I deserve this recognition. I should like

to take this honor as a testament that what I have done

truly has a global meaning and impact. Please receive

my sincerest gratitude. I gathered that you aspire to

be an internationalized university status. Your journey

may not take any longer. You have a competent pool o

manpower, a team o scholars who have been making a

name and achieving much in research both domestically

and internationally. Who knows, soon the next Nobel

Laureate will be a Filipino rom among these graduates

and your own people? Never tire in doing research.

Publish, disseminate, and transer your knowledge to

the outside world so that you get noticed. Invade the

international rontiers o scholarly exchanges, and

design your scientic inquiries to contribute to the

development o humanity.

To everyone, i my own lie should be any lesson, it is

that I discovered that the seemingly impossible could

actually be attainable, that the daunting was no less

doable, that an ordinary boy rom that unknown part

o Massachusetts could well make his science change

a whole lot everyones lie. I I should draw any other

meaning rom the conerment on me o this doctoratedegree, it is that it afrms, yet again, that I did my

job, and lived my lie, with honor. As the Good Book

reassures: A good reputation is better than silver and

gold.

Fellow graduates, whether you excel in science, in

business, in industry, or in academe, do so in a manner o

the Lasallian values, and make your God and country

perpetually proud o you. I, too, am now a proud

Lasallian! MARAMING SALAMAT at Mabuhay!

DR. RICHARD FRED HECKrecently met with the faculty members of theDLSU Chemistry Department, through the effortsof Dr. Alvin Culaba, Executive Vice President forExternal Relations and Internationalization, duringwhich he presented a Nobel Laureate poster tothe University.

He is now retired and currently residing in the

Philippines.