Piet van Leeuwen has been group leader at the Catalonian Institute of Chemical Research in Tarragona, Spain, since 2004 and Emeritus Professor of Homogeneous Catalysis at the University of Amsterdam since 1989. Until 1994 he headed a research group at Shell Research in Amsterdam, studying many aspects of homogeneous catalysis. He has coauthored 300 publications, 30 patents and many book chapters. In 2005 he was awarded the Holleman Prize for organic chemists by the Royal Netherlands Academy, as well as a Marie Curie Chair of Excellence.