Whitesides wins Welch Award

Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry George Whitesides is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Welch Foundation award for scientific achievement, the foundation announced on June 2. A pioneer in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology, Whitesides, in winning the Welch award joins other distinguished Harvard scientists, including Jeremy Knowles (1995), Wm. Von Eggers Doering (1990), Frank H. Westheimer (1982), and E. Bright Wilson (1978). The Welch Foundation is one of the oldest and largest sources of private funding for basic research in chemistry. By the terms of its endowment, most of its programs are focused in Texas. However, both its annual chemical research conference and Welch Award in Chemistry involve the international chemical community. Whitesides is the 35th recipient of the award. The Welch Foundation will hold a banquet for approximately 400 in Houston in October to honor Whitesides. At the banquet, Whitesides will receive a certificate, a check for $300,000, and a gold medallion.

– Alec Solomita