Past National Award Recipients

K. Barry Sharpless, is a Scripps Research Institute California chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions. Sharpless received the Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society’s highest honor, in 2019. In recognition of his “invention of catalytic, asymmetric oxidation methods, the concept of ‘click’ chemistry, and development of the copper-catalyzed version of the azide-acetylene cycloaddition reaction.”  View article in C&EN.

Geraldine Richmond, is the Presidential Chair in Science and a professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon. In 2018, Richmond received the Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society’s highest honor, for “her pioneering contributions to our understanding of the molecular properties of liquid surfaces and her extraordinary service to chemistry on a global level.” View article in C&EN.