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2007 Priestley Award winner.
Photo courtesy of Stephanie
Mitchell, Harvard University News Office |
Whitesides, a professor of chemistry at
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., expressed surprise and honor at
being selected. He is known for his broad contributions throughout the
field of chemistry and for his outstanding leadership and influence in
academia, industry and government. He is particularly noted for his
unique insights into surface chemistry, including the ‘self-assembly’
process that controls how molecules arrange themselves on a surface.
These studies have laid the groundwork for advances in nanoscience
that could lead to new technologies in electronics, pharmaceutical
science and medical diagnostics.
His other research interests include biophysics,
science for developing economies, the origin of life and cell-surface
biochemistry. A proflific and innovative researcher, Whitesides is the
author of more than 900 researcher papers and holds over 50 patents. A
passionate educator, he has mentored and taught a large pool of
talented chemists who now hold influential positions in academia and
industry.
Whitesides is the recipient of numerous awards,
including the prestigious National Medal of Science (1998). His
memberships include the American Academy of Arts, National Academy of
Sciences and the American Chemical Society (for 46 years). He is a
fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and
the Institute of Physics.
Recently, Whitesides served as a member of the
committee that created the National Academies’ report, “Rising Above
the Gathering Storm,” which calls for revitalization of U.S.
competitiveness in science, engineering and technology. He also has
been an advisor to the Department of Defense and served on numerous
editorial boards of major research journals.
Whitesides was born in Louisville, Ky., on Aug. 3,
1939. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1960 and a Ph.D.
from the California Institute of Technology in 1964. He was a faculty
member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1963 to 1982.
In 1982, in joined the Department of Chemistry at Harvard and now
serves as the school’s Woodford L. & Ann A. Flowers University
Professor, a post he has held since 2004.
The Priestley Medal is named for Joseph Priestley,
who reported the discovery of oxygen in 1774. The American Chemical
Society has recognized groundbreaking chemists with the annual award
since 1923, when it conveyed the first Priestley Medal to Ira Remsen,
the chemist credited with bringing laboratory research to American
universities. |
