Willard Gibbs Award

The Willard Gibbs Award,[1] presented by the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society, was founded in 1910 by William A. Converse (1862-1940), a former Chairman and Secretary of the Chicago Section of the society and named for Professor Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839-1903) of Yale University. Gibbs, whose formulation of the Phase Rule founded a new science, is considered by many to be the only American-born scientist whose discoveries are as fundamental in nature as those of Newton and Galileo.

The purpose of the award is "To publicly recognize eminent chemists who, through years of application and devotion, have brought to the world developments that enable everyone to live more comfortably and to understand this world better." Medalists are selected by a national jury of eminent chemists from different disciplines. The nominee must be a chemist who, because of the preeminence of his work in and contribution to pure or applied chemistry, is deemed worthy of special recognition.

The award consists of an eighteen-carat gold medal having, on one side, the bust of J. Willard Gibbs, for whom the medal was named. On the reverse is a laurel wreath and an inscription containing the recipient's name.

Mr. Converse supported the award personally for a number of years, and then established a fund for it in 1934 that has subsequently been augmented by the Dearborn Division of W. R. Grace & Co. When Betz purchased the Dearborn/Grace division, the BetzDearborn Foundation had most generously continued the historic relationship between the Section and Dearborn. J. Fred Wilkes and his wife have also made considerable contributions to the award. However, since General Electric purchased Betz/Dearborn these companies are no longer contributing to the Willard Gibbs Medal Fund. Anyone wishing to contribute to this award should contact the Chicago Section of the ACS.

List of winners

  1. Svante Arrhenius 1911
  2. Theodore William Richards 1912
  3. Leo H. Baekeland 1913
  4. Ira Remsen 1914
  5. Arthur Amos Noyes 1915
  6. Willis R. Whitney 1916
  7. Edward W. Morley 1917
  8. William M. Burton 1918
  9. William A. Noyes 1919
  10. F. G. Cottrell 1920
  11. Mme. Marie Curie 1921
  12. Julius Stieglitz 1923 (no award in 1922)
  13. Gilbert N. Lewis 1924
  14. Moses Gomberg 1925
  15. Sir James Colquhoun Irvine 1926
  16. John Jacob Abel 1927
  17. William Draper Harkins 1928
  18. Claude Silbert Hudson 1929
  19. Irving Langmuir 1930
  20. Phoebus A. Levene 1931
  21. Edward Curtis Franklin 1932
  22. Richard Willstätter 1933
  23. Harold Clayton Urey 1934
  24. Charles August Kraus 1935
  25. Roger Adams 1936
  26. Herbert Newby McCoy 1937
  27. Robert R. Williams 1938
  28. Donald Dexter Van Slyke 1939
  29. Vladimir Ipatieff 1940
  30. Edward A. Doisy 1941
  31. Thomas Midgley, Jr. 1942
  32. Conrad A. Elvehjem 1943
  33. George O. Curme, Jr. 1944
  34. Frank C. Whitmore 1945
  35. Linus Pauling 1946
  36. Wendell M. Stanley 1947
  37. Carl F. Cori 1948
  38. Peter J. W. Debye 1949
  39. Carl S. Marvel 1950
  40. William Francis Giauque 1951
  41. William C. Rose 1952
  42. Joel H. Hildebrand 1953
  43. Elmer K. Bolton 1954
  44. Farrington Daniels 1955
  45. Vincent du Vigneaud 1956
  46. W. Albert Noyes, Jr. 1957 (son of William A. Noyes)
  47. Willard F. Libby 1958
  48. Hermann I. Schlesinger 1959
  49. George B. Kistiakowsky 1960
  50. Louis Plack Hammett 1961
  51. Lars Onsager 1962
  52. Paul D. Bartlett 1963
  53. Izaak M. Kolthoff 1964
  54. Robert S. Mulliken 1965
  55. Glenn T. Seaborg 1966
  56. Robert Burns Woodward 1967
  57. Henry Eyring 1968
  58. Gerhard Herzberg 1969
  59. Frank H. Westheimer 1970
  60. Henry Taube 1971
  61. John T. Edsall 1972
  62. Paul John Flory 1973
  63. Har Gobind Khorana 1974
  64. Herman F. Mark 1975
  65. Kenneth S. Pitzer 1976
  66. Melvin Calvin 1977
  67. W. O. Baker 1978
  68. E. Bright Wilson 1979
  69. Frank Albert Cotton 1980
  70. Bert Lester Vallee 1981
  71. Gilbert Stork 1982
  72. John D. Roberts 1983
  73. Elias J. Corey 1984
  74. Donald J. Cram 1985
  75. Jack Halpern 1986
  76. Allen J. Bard 1987
  77. Rudolph A. Marcus 1988
  78. Richard B. Bernstein1989
  79. Richard N. Zare 1990
  80. Günther Wilke 1991
  81. Harry B. Gray 1992
  82. Peter B. Dervan 1993
  83. M. Frederick Hawthorne 1994
  84. Sir John Meurig Thomas 1995
  85. Fred Basolo 1996
  86. Carl Djerassi 1997
  87. Mario J. Molina 1998
  88. Lawrence F. Dahl 1999
  89. Nicholas Turro 2000
  90. Tobin J. Marks 2001
  91. Ralph Hirschmann 2002
  92. John I. Brauman 2003
  93. Ronald Breslow 2004
  94. David A. Evans 2005
  95. Jacqueline K. Barton 2006
  96. Sylvia T. Ceyer 2007
  97. Carolyn R. Bertozzi 2008
  98. Louis Brus 2009
  99. Maurice Brookhart 2010
  100. Robert G. Bergman 2011
  101. Mark A. Ratner 2012
  102. Charles M. Lieber 2013
  103. John E. Bercaw 2014
  104. John F. Hartwig 2015

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Willard Gibbs Medal Award, ACS.