In honor of Matt’s 75th birthday, a Mertes 75th Birthday Symposium was held in the Simons Auditorium on West Campus on October 19, 2007. Former Mertes students Pat Hanna, Christie Brouillette, Chris Bigge, and Binghe Wang joined Kristin (Mertes) Bowman-James for five research talks that included some Mertes memories. After lunch Dr. Gregory C. Fu (the 2007 Mertes Lecturer) presented a seminar. Following the symposium, remarks were made by Dr. David VanderVelde (director of the KU Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory), Dr. Kenneth L. Audus (dean of the School of Pharmacy), and Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway, dedicating the 800 MHz NMR Laboratory in the Structural Biology Center as the Mathias P. Mertes Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory. Matt was instrumental in establishing high field NMR at KU and in coordinating some of the NIH grants that led to the Smissman Research Laboratory building on West Campus.

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Photos of friends and former students from the Mertes "era" (1960–1989)

• Photos of Matt Mertes and Ed Smissman at work (Acrobat: 350 kB file)
• Photos from Kristin (Mertes) Bowman-James (Acrobat: 2.2 MB file)
• Photo of the Mertes children and a statement of thanks (Acrobat: 200 kB)
• Photos from Jeff Aubé, Mike Doughty, Moorthy Palanki and Binghe Wang (Acrobat: 2 MB file)
• Photos from Christie Brouillette (Acrobat: 3 MB file)

Photos from the Mertes 75th Birthday Symposium—Program and Speakers (Acrobat: 1.3 MB file)

Dedication remarks for the Mathias P. Mertes Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory

• Robert E. Hemenway, University Chancellor (Acrobat: 180 kB)
• David VanderVelde, Director—KU NMR Laboratories (Acrobat: 380 kB)

Photos from the dedication ceremony and the following reception (Acrobat: 2.3 MB file)

Photos from the Mertes Lecturer and 75th Birthday Symposium Dinners (Acrobat: 2.4 MB file)