Biographical history: Zdenek Valenta (1927-) was born in Havlickuv Brod, Czechoslovakia on 14 June 1927. In 1946 he enrolled at E.T.H. (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Zurich, Switzerland and completed his undergraduate work there in 1950. The same year he travelled to Fredericton to commence graduate studies at UNB under Dr. Karel Wiesner. Valenta received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1952 and 1953 respectively.

Following receipt of his doctorate, Valenta joined the department as a lecturer. In 1957 he was elevated to the rank of Assistant Professor and in 1958 promoted to Associate Professor. Five years later he became a full Professor and was named Head of the Department. He held this position for 8 years, resigning on 30 June 1972 in order to devote more time to teaching and research. In 1990 he became a Research Professor with the department.

During his career, Valenta wrote numerous scientific articles, presented papers at a number of conferences and lectured at Harvard among other universities. In addition, he has been associated with several research laboratories including Torcan Chemicals, Delmar Chemicals and Ayerst Research Laboratories.

A respected scholar, research scientist and teacher, Valenta received a number of awards and honours while at UNB. He was named recipient of: the Chemical Institute of Canada's Merck Sharp & Dohme Lecture Award in 1967, UNB's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1974, APICS/Northern Telecom Science Teaching Award for 1987 and the Union Carbide Award for Chemical Education in 1989. In addition, Valenta was elected a Fellow of both the Chemical Institute of Canada and the Royal Society of Canada.

Sources:

American Men and Women of Science, 12th ed., 1973.

Canadian Who's Who, Vol. XXX, 1995.

Archives and Special Collections Department, Faculty Files, "Zdenek Valenta".

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