Perkin Medal
Encyclopedia
The Perkin Medal is an award given annually by the American
section of the Society of Chemical Industry
to a scientist residing in America for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development." It is considered the highest honor given in the US industrial chemical industry.
The Perkin Medal was first granted in 1906 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of mauveine
, the world's first synthetic
aniline
dye
, by Sir William Henry Perkin, an English
chemist. The award was given to Sir William on the occasion of his famous visit to the United States in the year before he died. It was next given in 1908 and has been given every year since then.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
section of the Society of Chemical Industry
Society of Chemical Industry
The Society of Chemical Industry is a learned society set up in 1881 "to further the application of chemistry and related sciences for the public benefit". Its purpose is "Promoting the commercial application of science for the benefit of society". Its first president was Henry Enfield Roscoe and...
to a scientist residing in America for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development." It is considered the highest honor given in the US industrial chemical industry.
The Perkin Medal was first granted in 1906 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of mauveine
Mauveine
Mauveine, also known as aniline purple and Perkin's mauve, was the first synthetic organic chemical dye.Its chemical name is3-amino-2,±9-dimethyl-5-phenyl-7-phenazinium acetate...
, the world's first synthetic
Chemical synthesis
In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...
aniline
Aniline
Aniline, phenylamine or aminobenzene is an organic compound with the formula C6H5NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the prototypical aromatic amine. Being a precursor to many industrial chemicals, its main use is in the manufacture of precursors to polyurethane...
dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
, by Sir William Henry Perkin, an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
chemist. The award was given to Sir William on the occasion of his famous visit to the United States in the year before he died. It was next given in 1908 and has been given every year since then.
Recipients
- 1906 Sir William H. Perkin
- 1908 John Brown Francis HerreshoffJohn Brown Francis HerreshoffJohn Brown Francis Herreshoff, Ph.D. was the first President of the American Chemical Society and first winner of the Perkin Medal.-Biography:...
- 1909 Arno Behr
- 1910 Edward G. Acheson
- 1911 Charles M. HallCharles Martin HallCharles Martin Hall was an American inventor, music enthusiast, and chemist. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminium, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of iron.-Early years:Charles Martin Hall...
- 1912 Herman FraschHerman FraschHerman Frasch [or Hermann Frasch] was a mining engineer and inventor known for his work with petroleum and sulphur.-Biography:...
- 1913 James Gayley
- 1914 John W. Hyatt
- 1915 Edward WestonEdward Weston (chemist)Edward Weston was an English-born American chemist noted for his achievements in electroplating and his development of the electrochemical cell, named the Weston cell, for the voltage standard...
- 1916 Leo H. BaekelandLeo BaekelandLeo Hendrik Baekeland was a Belgian chemist who invented Velox photographic paper and Bakelite , an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile, and popular plastic, which marks the beginning of the modern plastics industry.-Career:Leo Baekeland was born in Sint-Martens-Latem near Ghent, Belgium,...
- 1917 Ernst Twitchell
- 1918 Auguste J. Rossi
- 1919 Frederick G. Cottrell
- 1920 Charles F. ChandlerCharles F. ChandlerCharles Frederick Chandler was an American chemist, best known for his regulatory work in public health, sanitation, and consumer safety in New York City, as well as his work in chemical education—first at Union College and then, for the majority of his career, at Columbia University where he...
- 1921 Willis R. WhitneyWillis Rodney WhitneyWillis Rodney Whitney was an American chemist and founder of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company.- Early life and studies :...
- 1922 William M. BurtonWilliam Merriam BurtonWilliam Merriam Burton was a U.S. chemist who developed the first thermal cracking process for crude oil....
- 1923 Milton C. WhitakerMilton C. WhitakerMilton C. Whitaker was a noted 20th century chemist. His areas of speciality were chemical engineering and industrial chemistry.-Personal life:...
- 1924 Frederick M. Becket
- 1925 Hugh K. Moore
- 1926 Richard B. Moore
- 1927 John E. TeepleJohn E. TeepleJohn Edgar Teeple was a chemical engineer who received the Perkin Medal in 1927 for his work on potash during World War I. He was also an American researcher and contributor to the field of Mesoamerican studies during the first half of the 20th century...
- 1928 Irving LangmuirIrving LangmuirIrving Langmuir was an American chemist and physicist. His most noted publication was the famous 1919 article "The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules" in which, building on Gilbert N. Lewis's cubical atom theory and Walther Kossel's chemical bonding theory, he outlined his...
- 1929 Eugene C. Sullivan
- 1930 Herbert H. Dow
- 1931 Arthur D. LittleArthur Dehon LittleArthur Dehon Little was an American chemist and chemical engineer. He founded the consulting company Arthur D. Little and was instrumental in developing chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
- 1932 Charles F. Burgess
- 1933 George OenslagerGeorge OenslagerGeorge Oenslager was a chemist who discovered that a derivative of aniline accelerated the vulcanization of rubber with sulfur.Oenslager received his PhD under Theodore William Richards....
- 1934 Colin G. Fink
- 1935 George O. Curme, Jr.George O. Curme, Jr.George Oliver Curme, Jr was an American industrial chemist, working with synthesis of various chemicals— including acetylene and ethylene glycol — from petroleum byproducts....
- 1936 Warren K. LewisWarren K. LewisWarren Kendall Lewis was an MIT professor who has been called the father of modern chemical engineering. He co-authored an early major textbook on the subject which essentially introduced the concept of unit operations...
- 1937 Thomas Midgley, Jr.Thomas Midgley, Jr.Thomas Midgley, Jr. was an American mechanical engineer and chemist. Midgley was a key figure in a team of chemists, led by Charles F. Kettering, that developed the tetraethyllead additive to gasoline as well as some of the first chlorofluorocarbons . Over the course of his career, Midgley was...
- 1938 Frank J. Tone
- 1939 Walter S. Landis
- 1940 Charles M. A. StineCharles StineCharles Milton Altland Stine was a chemist and a vice-president of DuPont who created the laboratory from which nylon and other significant inventions were made. He was also a devout Christian who authored a book about religion and science....
- 1941 John V. N. DorrJohn V. N. DorrDr John Van Nostrand Dorr was an industrial chemist active in early to middle twentieth century. He attended Rutgers University, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity, graduating in 1896. He was awarded the Franklin Institute's John Scott Medal in 1916...
- 1942 Martin IttnerMartin IttnerMartin Hill Ittner was primarily a chemist, who is best known for his contributions to applied chemistry such as the development of toothpaste and detergent while working for Colgate, now known as Colgate-Palmolive...
- 1943 Robert E. Wilson
- 1944 Gaston F. Dubois
- 1945 Elmer K. BoltonElmer Keiser BoltonElmer Keiser Bolton was an American chemist and research director for DuPont, notable for his role in developing neoprene and directing the research that led to the discovery of nylon.- Personal life :...
- 1946 Francis C. Frary
- 1947 Robert R. WilliamsRobert R. WilliamsRobert Runnels Williams was an American chemist, known for being the first to synthesize thiamine . He first isolated thiamine in 1933, and synthesized vitamin B in 1935. Among his awards were the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1940 and the Perkin Medal in 1947.-Life:He was born in Nellore, India to...
- 1948 Clarence W. Balke
- 1949 Carl S. Miner
- 1950 Eger V. MurphreeEger V. MurphreeEger Vaughan Murphree was an American chemist, best known for his co-invention of the process of fluid catalytic cracking.He was involved in the early Manhattan Project as a member of the S-1 Uranium Committee....
- 1951 Henry Howard
- 1952 Robert M. Burns
- 1953 Charles A. Thomas
- 1954 Roger AdamsRoger AdamsRoger Adams was an American organic chemist. He is best-known for the eponymous Adams' catalyst, and his work did much to determine the composition of naturally occurring substances such as complex vegetable oils and plant alkaloids...
- 1955 Roger Williams
- 1956 Edgar C. Britton
- 1957 Glenn T. SeaborgGlenn T. SeaborgGlenn Theodore Seaborg was an American scientist who won the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements", contributed to the discovery and isolation of ten elements, and developed the actinide concept, which led to the current arrangement of the...
- 1958 William J. KrollWilliam J. KrollWilliam Justin Kroll was a metallurgist from Luxembourg. He is best known for inventing the Kroll process in 1940, which is used commercially to extract metallic titanium from ore....
- 1959 Eugene J. Houdry
- 1960 Karl FolkersKarl August FolkersKarl August Folkers was an American biochemist, working at Merck, and best known for his role in the isolation of vitamin B12. He received the Perkin Medal in 1960 and the Priestley Medal in 1986.-External links:...
- 1961 Carl F. Prutton
- 1962 Eugene G. RochowEugene G. RochowEugene George Rochow was an American inorganic chemist. Rochow worked on organosilicon chemistry; in the 1940s, he described the direct process, also known as the Rochow process or Müller-Rochow process....
- 1963 William O. BakerWilliam O. BakerWilliam Oliver Baker was a former President of Bell Labs who had advised five Presidents on scientific matters. He received his degree from Washington College and went on to get a doctorate from Princeton University, studying under Charles Phelps Smyth...
- 1964 William J. SparksWilliam J. SparksWilliam Joseph Sparks was a chemist at Exxon. As an inventor, his most important contribution was the development of butyl rubber....
- 1965 Carl S. Marvel
- 1966 Manson BenedictManson BenedictManson Benedict was an American nuclear engineer and a professor of nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . From 1958 to 1968, he was the chairman of the advisory committee to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.-Biography:Born in Lake Linden, Michigan, Benedict received a...
- 1967 Vladimir HaenselVladimir HaenselVladimir Haensel was an American chemical engineer who invented the platforming process - a platinum catalytic process for reforming petroleum hydrocarbons into gasoline...
- 1968 Henry B. Hass
- 1969 Robert W. Cairns
- 1970 Milton HarrisMilton Harris (scientist)Milton Harris was a scientist who founded the Harris Research Laboratories and, for six years, chaired the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Sciences....
- 1971 James F. Hyde
- 1972 Robert Burns MacMullin
- 1973 Theodore L. Cairns
- 1974 Edwin H. LandEdwin H. LandEdwin Herbert Land was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. Among other things, he invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical system of in-camera instant photography, and his retinex theory of color vision...
- 1975 Carl DjerassiCarl DjerassiCarl Djerassi is an Austrian-American chemist, novelist, and playwright best known for his contribution to the development of the first oral contraceptive pill . Djerassi is emeritus professor of chemistry at Stanford University.He participated in the invention in 1951, together with Mexican Luis E...
- 1976 Lewis H. Sarett
- 1977 Paul J. Flory
- 1978 Donald F. OthmerDonald OthmerDonald Frederick Othmer, born 1904, died 1995, was an American professor of chemical engineering, an inventor, multi-millionaire and philanthropist, whose most famous work is the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.-Early life and education:...
- 1979 James D. Idol Jr.
- 1980 Herman F. Mark
- 1981 Ralph Landau
- 1982 Herbert C. BrownHerbert C. BrownHerbert Charles Brown was a chemist and Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate for his work with organoboranes....
- 1983 N. Bruce Hannay
- 1984 John H. SinfeltJohn H. SinfeltJohn H. Sinfelt was an American chemical engineer whose research on catalytic reforming was responsible for the introduction of unleaded gasoline.Sinfelt was working for the Standard Oil Development Company , where he specialized in developing...
- 1985 Paul B. Weisz
- 1986 Peter Regna
- 1987 J. Paul Hogan and Robert L. BanksRobert Banks (chemist)Robert L. Banks was an American chemist. He was born and grew up in Piedmont, Missouri. He attended Southeast Missouri State University, and initiated into Alpha Phi Omega in 1940. He joined the Phillips Petroleum company in 1946 and worked there until he retired in 1985.He was a fellow research...
- 1988 James F. Roth
- 1989 Frederick J. Karol
- 1990 John E. FranzJohn E. FranzJohn E. Franz is an organic chemist who discovered the herbicide glyphosate while working at Monsanto Company in 1970. The chemical became the active ingredient in Roundup, a broad-spectrum, post-emergence herbicide...
- 1991 Miguel A. Ondetti
- 1992 Edith M. FlanigenEdith M. FlanigenEdith Marie Flanigen is an American chemist, known for her work on synthesis of emeralds, and later zeolites for molecular sieves at Union Carbide. She was the first female recipient of the Perkin Medal in 1992....
- 1993 Lubomyr T. Romankiw
- 1994 Marinus Los
- 1995 Delbert H. Meyer
- 1996 Marion D. Francis
- 1997 Stephanie KwolekStephanie KwolekStephanie Louise Kwolek is a Polish-American chemist who invented poly-paraphenylene terephtalamide—better known as Kevlar. She was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Kwolek has won numerous awards for her work in polymer chemistry.- Early life and education :Kwolek was...
- 1998 David R. BryantDavid R. BryantDavid R. Bryant is an internationally acclaimed organic chemist, having worked his entire thirty-nine year ‘early career’ at Union Carbide. He is inventor on some ninety patents, and a recipient of the Perkin Medal...
- 1999 Albert A. Carr
- 2000 Norman N. LiNorman N. LiNorman N. Li , born December 28, 1932 in Shanghai, China, is a Chinese American engineer and scientist famous for his inventions and development of liquid membrane technologies.-Biography:Li graduated from the National Taiwan University in 1954...
- 2001 Elsa Reichmanis
- 2002 Paul S. AndersonPaul S. AndersonPaul S. Anderson is an American chemist. He worked at Merck, DuPont-Merck, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Among his awards were the Perkin Medal in 2002, the NAS Award for Chemistry in Service to Society in 2003 and the Priestley Medal in 2006....
- 2003 William H. Joyce
- 2004 Gordon E. Moore
- 2005 Robert W. GoreRobert W. GoreRobert W. "Bob" Gore is an American engineer and scientist, inventor and businessman, who along with his father Bill Gore invented Gore-Tex, a waterproof/breathable fabric made from polytetrafluoroethylene ....
- 2006 James C. StevensJames C. StevensJames C. Stevens is a chemist at the Dow Chemical Company. He was awarded the Perkin Medal in 2006 in recognition of his contributions to the development of olefin polymerization catalysts, including the INSITE process....
- 2007 Herbert BoyerHerbert BoyerHerbert W. Boyer is a recipient of the 1990 National Medal of Science, co-recipient of the 1996 Lemelson-MIT Prize, and a co-founder of Genentech. He served as Vice President of Genentech from 1976 through his retirement in 1991....
- 2008 Ian Shankland
- 2009 Richard B. SilvermanRichard Bruce SilvermanRichard Bruce Silverman is a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in the United States. He currently holds the title of "John Evans Professor of Chemistry". He is most known for his invention of pregabalin, which is now marketed by Pfizer under the trade name Lyrica.Silverman was awarded...
- 2010 Ronald BreslowRonald BreslowRonald C. D. Breslow is an American chemist from Rahway, New Jersey. He is currently University Professor at Columbia University, where he is based in the Department of Chemistry and affiliated with the Departments of Biological Sciences and Pharmacology; he has also been on the faculty of its...
- 2011 Rodney H. Banks