Prof. Jean-Claude G. Bünzli from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL) visited Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM) at the invitation of the Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics in October and November, 2014. He delivered three seminar reports about the topic “Introducing Rare Earths: Applications, Coordination Chemistry, and Spectroscopy”. These reports are part of frontier course series of “Physics and Chemistry of Inorganic Luminescent Materials” which given by oversea members of CAS Creative Research Team. During his stay in FJIRSM, he also contributed to the supervision of MSc/PhD students and postdoctorates.

Prof. Bünzli earned a degree in chemical engineering in 1968 and a PhD in 1971 from EPFL. He was appointed at the University of Lausanne in 1974 and at EPFL in 2001 as a full professor of inorganic chemistry. Since September 2009 he has also held a professorship at Korea University. Prof. Bünzli is an active researcher in the field of coordination, supramolecular and biological chemistry of the lanthanide ions. He is also the senior editor of the Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths, president of European Rare Earth and Actinide Society, member of the Swiss Chemical Society, and fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.