Priestley Medal
American award in chemistry
The Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, one of the discoverers of oxygen, who immigrated to the United States of America in 1794. The ACS formed in 1876, spearheaded by a group of chemists who had met two years previously in Priestley's home.
The Priestley Medal is among the most distinguished awards in the chemical sciences, behind the Wolf Prize in Chemistry and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Consequently, it is commonly awarded to scientists who are advanced in their fields, as it is intended to commemorate lifetime achievement. When the ACS started presenting the Priestley Medal in 1923, they intended to award it every three years. This continued until 1944, when it became an annual award.
Recipients
Source:
1920s
1923 Ira Remsen
1926 Edgar Fahs Smith
1929 Francis P. Garvan
1930s
1932 Charles L. Parsons
1935 William A. Noyes
1938 Marston T. Bogert
1940s
1941 Thomas Midgley Jr.
1944 James Bryant Conant
1945 Ian Heilbron
1946 Roger Adams
1947 Warren K. Lewis
1948 Edward R. Weidlein
1949 Arthur B. Lamb
1950s
1950 Charles A. Kraus
1951 E. J. Crane
1952 Samuel C. Lind
1953 Sir Robert Robinson
1954 W. Albert Noyes Jr. (son of William A. Noyes)
1955 Charles A. Thomas
1956 Carl S. Marvel
1957 Farrington Daniels
1958 Ernest H. Volwiler
1959 Hermann Irving Schlesinger
1960s
1960 Wallace R. Brode
1961 Louis Plack Hammett
1962 Joel H. Hildebrand
1963 Peter Debye
1964 John C. Bailar Jr.
“Priestley Medal” enters the record as american award in chemistry. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Priestley, Medal and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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