Michael Grätzel and Jieping Zhu win 2016 RSC awards
Michael Grätzel and Jieping Zhu have won the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Centenary Award and Natural Product Chemistry Award respectively.
Michael Grätzel wins the Centenary Award
The Centenary Prizes are awarded annually “to outstanding chemists who are also exceptional communicators”. The winners can be up to three international scientists who are invited to give lectures in the British Isles.
Professor Michael Grätzel, director of EPFL’s Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, is known worldwide for pioneering the field of molecular photovoltaics (the famous Grätzel cells) and energy- and electron-transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems in the context of solar electricity and fuels. He has also initiated research on storing electric power in mesoscopic lithium ion batteries.
Each winner of the Centenary Award will receive £5000, a medal, and a certificate, all to be presented at the RSC’s Prize ceremony in November 2016. The winners will then complete a lecture tour across the UK.
RSC press release on Michael Grätzel
Jieping Zhu wins the Natural Product Chemistry Award
The Natural Product Chemistry Award is given every two years to scientists who have distinguished themselves in “studies of the chemistry of natural products”. The winner receives £2000, a medal and a certificate, and is invited to a lecture tour across the UK.
Professor Jieping Zhu leads the Laboratory of Synthesis and Natural Products at EPFL. His research focuses on the development of novel synthetic methods, their application in the synthesis of bioactive natural products, the design of novel multicomponent reactions and development of catalytic enantioselective transformations. The RSC states that Professor Zhu has been awarded “for outstanding contributions to the synthesis of complex natural products”.