The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation announced today that George M. Whitesides,
the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor of Chemistry at Harvard
University, has won the inaugural Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences.
The prize, to be given biennially by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation,
recognizes exceptional and original research in a selected area of chemistry
that has advanced the field in major ways. Conferred this year in materials
chemistry, the prize consists of a monetary award of $250,000-one of the
largest awards dedicated to the chemical sciences in the U.S.-a citation
and a medal. The award ceremony will be at Harvard University on September 30,
and will include a lecture by George Whitesides.
Harvard University Professor George M. Whitesides, winner of the inaugural Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences
Whitesides has had a major and sustained impact in the chemical sciences and
materials chemistry. He is one of the most innovative and prolific chemists
of our time and the most highly cited living chemist in the world. He has developed
powerful methods for the creation of new materials that have significantly advanced
the field of chemistry and its societal benefits. His research extends across
multiple disciplines, centered on chemistry, but touching biochemistry, drug
design, and materials science. His work extends to the engineering of functional
systems and the applications of these systems in areas ranging from biology
to microelectronics. He has opened broad new technological avenues and has impacted
human health in significant ways. Whitesides’s research in materials chemistry
has become an essential part of materials synthesis programs around the world.
“I’m particularly pleased and honored to receive this award from
the Dreyfus Foundation. Its work in raising public awareness of chemistry is
helping to educate young people about the transformative power of this science,”
said George Whitesides. “Chemistry has the opportunity of a century to
do something profound for society. The whole area of materials chemistry, including
challenges in energy, water, conservation, sustainability-commodity infrastructure-is
up to us, as chemists, to work through.”
Among Whitesides’s many innovations are the synthesis and molecular organization
of new classes of materials, pioneering self-assembled monolayers and microfluidic
systems to enable the development of new drugs and extend soft materials into
the world of three-dimensional microelectronics, and into consumer devices such
as solar cells. Within this work he developed soft lithography, a set of methods
for printing and molding organic-based substances to make complex patterns at
the micron and nanometer level.
Whitesides combined these approaches for creating materials with the concept
of polyvalency and developed a new paradigm for drug design. This has resulted
in affordable medical diagnostics expected to have a major impact on health
in the third world as well as new drugs that manage cholesterol, improve dialysis,
and combat multiple drug-resistant pathogens.
Henry C. Walter, President of the Dreyfus Foundation, said, “I believe
the Dreyfus brothers-materials chemists, inventors, and businessmen-would
be very proud to honor George Whitesides, a chemist who has generated so much
value to society based on his innovative chemistry research. It reflects the
Dreyfus Foundation charter admirably.”
Marye Anne Fox, Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, and
Chair of the Dreyfus Scientific Affairs Committee, noted, “George has
revolutionized materials chemistry. He has developed a unique interdisciplinary
approach to materials systems that is of widespread influence in chemistry research.”
George Whitesides has received many awards. Among those from the American Chemical
Society are the Award in Pure Chemistry, the Arthur C. Cope Award, and the Society’s
highest award, the Priestley Medal. From other institutions his awards include
the Materials Research Society’s Von Hippel Award, the Welch Award from
the Welch Foundation, the American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal, and the
Franklin Foundation’s Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry. In 1998, he
was awarded the National Medal of Science. International recognition includes
the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology, the Paracelsus Prize of the Swiss Chemical
Society, the UAA-Dhirumbhai Ambani Award of the National Academy of Science
in India, and the Prince of Asturias Foundation’s Award in Science and
Technology.
In addition to his academic research, he has helped found 12 companies in biotechnology
and materials science and holds more than 50 patents. He is a member of the
board of directors of Theravance, Hughes Research Laboratories, Surface Logix,
Nano-Terra, Arsenal Biomedical, Diagnostics for All, and Paper Diagnostics.
Whitesides has served on the Harvard University faculty since 1982. He holds
an A.B. degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.
He has served on numerous advisory boards of the National Science Foundation,
the Department of Defense, and NASA, and is currently advising the National
Research Council, the Genomics Research Center, and the University of Illinois,
among others. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the National
Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, and is a fellow
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for
the Advancement of Science.
Over the past decade, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has provided
more than $50 million in support of the chemical sciences. In broad terms, the
programs support young faculty of exciting potential or early accomplishment,
develop leadership in environmental chemistry, and openly solicit for projects
that advance the chemical sciences at all levels.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, based in New York, is a leading non-profit
organization devoted to the advancement of the chemical sciences. It was established
in 1946 by chemist, inventor, and businessman Camille Dreyfus, who directed
that the Foundation's purpose be “to advance the science of chemistry,
chemical engineering, and related sciences as a means of improving human relations
and circumstances.”