Malcolm H. Chisholm was born in Bombay, India (1945) to Scottish parents and educated in England (BS 1966, PhD 1969, London University). He has, however, spent his entire academic career in North America and after faculty appointments at Princeton University and Indiana University-Bloomington, he joined The Ohio State University in 2000 where he is currently Distinguised University Professor.

His research interests span inorganic, organometallic and materials chemistry. He is probably best known for his pioneering work in the field of metal-metal multiple bonding and metal alkoxide chemistry. His current work focuses on molecular informatics/electronics and new generation polymers derived from renewable resources. He has received several awards from the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and the American Chemical Society and has been active within both societies serving as associate editor for Chemical Communications and Dalton Transactions and Chair of the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry. He is a member of the National Academy of Science (USA), and a fellow of the Royal Society (London), the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences and the German Academy of Science-Leopoldina.