John Yates

Who is John Yates?

John T. Yates Jr. is an investigator in the field of surface chemistry and physics, including both the structure and spectroscopy of atoms and molecules on surfaces, the dynamics of surface processes and the development of new methods for research in surface chemistry.

He worked at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., and subsequently at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was for 24 years the R. K. Mellon Professor of Chemistry and Physics as well as the founding director of the Pittsburgh Surface Science Center.

Yates received his bachelor’s degree from Juniata College in 1956 and his doctorate in physical chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. Following three years as an assistant professor at Antioch College, he joined the scientific staff at the National Bureau of Standards. In 1982 he joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh as the first R. K. Mellon Professor of Chemistry and as the director of the University of Pittsburgh Surface Science Center, which he founded. In 1994 he was jointly appointed to the Department of Physics.