Jean Fréchet was born in France and received his first university degree at the Institut de Chimie et Physique Industrielles (now CPE) in Lyon, France, before coming to the US for graduate studies in organic and polymer chemistry at the State University of New York, College of Forestry, and at Syracuse University. He joined the Chemistry Faculty at the University of Ottawa in Canada in 1973 and remained there until 1987 when he became IBM Professor of Polymer Chemistry at Cornell University. In 1995 he was named to the Peter J. Debye Chair of Chemistry at Cornell University. In 1997, Jean Fréchet joined the Chemistry Faculty at the University of California, Berkeley and was named the Henry Rapoport Chair of Organic Chemistry in 2003 and Professor of Chemical Engineering in 2005.

2007 Dickson Prize in Science (judged by Carnegie Mellon University to have made the most progress in the scientific field in the United States for the year in question)

2007 Arthur C. Cope Award (American Chemical Society award for outstanding achievement in the field of Organic Chemistry)

2006 Macro Group UK Medal (joint Royal Society for Chemistry and Society of Chemical Industry) for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Macromolecular Chemistry

2005 Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Service of the Public

2005 Chemical Communications 40th Anniversary Award

2004 Docteur de L’Université, Université d’Ottawa, Canada

2003 Henry Rapoport Chair of Organic Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

2002 Docteur (Honoris Causa), Université de Lyon I, France

2001 American Chemical Society, Salute to Excellence Award

2001 American Chemical Society, A.C. Cope Scholar Award

2000 Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Art and Sciences

2000 Elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering

2000 Elected Fellow of the PMSE Division of the American Chemical Society

2000 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

2000 Elected Member of the US National Academy of Sciences

2000 American Chemical Society, ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry