Gregor Mali

Professor Gregor Mali (1971-2023)
After a battle with a serious illness, our dear colleague, friend and researcher Prof. Dr. Gregor Mali has passed away. He was part of the zeolite research community for more than 25 years and was also active in the Slovenian Zeolite Association. We will cherish the memory of our esteemed colleague.
Prof. Dr. Gregor Mali has been employed at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry
and Technology since 1997, most recently as a scientific advisor. He graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the
University of Ljubljana in 1996 and received his doctorate in 2001 from the same faculty. He completed his professional training
abroad in France at the universities of Strasbourg and Versailles. Since 2007, he has been habilitated in the field of Physics at the
University of Nova Gorica and since 2019 also at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Ljubljana.
Prof. Mali's research work was devoted to the development and application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods and computational
methods for the study of the structure of solids. In Slovenia, he was the first to introduce high-resolution methods for solid state
nuclear magnetic resonance, which provide insight into the structure of materials and the processes within them at atomic resolution.
In addition to experimental methods of magnetic resonance, he also began introducing computational methods to predict the parameters
that could be measured with magnetic resonance. Research areas to which Prof. Mali paid the most attention were the development of
new porous catalysts and adsorbents for environmental and energy applications, and the development of batteries. In his research work,
he collaborated with several research groups world-wide, recently mostly with the Universities of Leuven and Cambridge on NMR studies
of metal-organic framework materials.
In recent years, Prof. Mali has become one of the world's most prominent scientists in the field of NMR research on porous materials.
He has authored or co-authored more than 130 scientific articles in prestigious journals, including Science and Nature group. The
importance and excellence of his research is evidenced by the two prestigious awards he received in 2017, namely the Pregl Award for
outstanding achievements in the field of chemistry and related sciences and the Zois Prize for significant scientific achievements
in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance of materials.
Prof. Mali's research work was excellent, dedicated and responsible to his colleagues and students. We admired and appreciated him
for his exceptional approachability, kindness, respectful attitude and brilliant thinking. We will miss him sorely.
Rest in peace, Gregor.