2024 Corday-Morgan Prize Winner
Professor Gonçalo Bernardes, University of Cambridge
Awarded for the design, development and application of targeted therapeutics including small molecule-based RNA degradation and conditional activation of chemotherapeutics.
The Bernardes group bridges the gap between organic chemistry and biology to unlock fundamental biological knowledge and pave the way for the next generation of targeted therapeutics.
In chemistry, the term chemoselectivity refers to the ability of a reagent (a substance or compound that triggers a reaction) to single out a specific chemical group, ignoring other reaction pathways. Organic chemists have exploited this property to develop new catalysts and streamline the chemical synthesis of complex synthetic targets. Chemical biology takes this a step further. The group use this background in organic chemistry to harness the inherent reactivity of functional groups within biological macromolecules like DNA, RNA, and proteins to create biological probes and novel therapeutic agents.
2024 Corday-Morgan Prize Winner
Professor Matthew Gibson, The University of Manchester
Awarded for transformative contributions in polymer and biomaterials science, particularly for the development of materials to stabilise biologics.
Storing and transporting biological materials is crucial to modern life, from frozen food to the safe delivery of blood transfusions, stem cells, or even organs. Professor Gibson and his team have learned from some of nature’s toughest organisms, which can survive sub-zero temperatures, to develop new materials which can protect biopharmaceuticals against cold stress.
2024 Corday-Morgan Prize Winner
Professor Marina Kuimova, Imperial College London
Awarded for the development of unique probes and methodologies in fluorescence imaging leading to an understanding of dynamic biological processes in living systems, pertinent to health and disease.
Professor Kuimova obtained her Master’s degree at Moscow State University (Russia) and a doctorate at the University of Nottingham (UK) under the supervision of Professor M W George (in 2006), investigating DNA electron transfer using time-resolved infrared spectroscopy.
Year | Name | Institution | Citation |
2023 | Professor Graeme Day | University of Southampton | Awarded for pioneering the development of computational methods for guiding the discovery of functional molecular crystals. |
2023 | Professor Carmen Domene | University of Bath | Awarded for the use of computational techniques to enhance understanding of fundamental biological processes at the molecular level. |
2023 | Professor Tomislav Friš膷i膰 | University of Birmingham | Awarded for transformative contributions to the design, fundamental understanding and applications of solid-state materials, and of their mechanochemical and photochemical reactivity. |
2023 | Professor Richard Layfield | University of Sussex | Awarded for pioneering work in lanthanide and uranium chemistry including single-molecule magnetism. |
2022 | Professor Andrew Dove FRSC | University of Birmingham | Awarded for seminal contributions to controlling and understanding stereochemistry and degradation in polymeric materials. |
2022 | Professor Rebecca Goss FRSC | University of St Andrews | Awarded for pioneering the use of enzymatic halogenation/cross-coupling in C鈥扝 activation. |
2021 | Professor Matthew Fuchter | Imperial College London | Awarded for the development of chemistry-led approaches to interrogate function in chemistry, materials and medicine. |
2021 | Professor Junwang Tang | University College London | Awarded for the discovery of efficient photocatalysts for clean and renewable fuel synthesis. |
2021 | Professor Jan Verlet | Durham University | Awarded for the development and application of novel spectroscopic methods to probe the fundamental physical chemistry underpinning electron-molecule reactions. |
2020 | Professor Madhavi Krishnan | University of Oxford | Awarded for the invention of a ‘field free’ trap for confining and manipulating a single colloidal particle or molecule, enabling accurate and precise measurements of molecular charge in aqueous solution. |
2020 | Professor Rachel O'Reilly | University of Birmingham | Awarded for creative and comprehensive syntheses of functional, self-assembling polymeric materials. |
2020 | Professor Edward Tate | Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute | Awarded for contributions to discovery of novel chemical probes, and their application in opening up new understanding of protein modification in living systems, leading to the validation of novel drug targets in cancer and infectious disease. |
2019 | Professor Roel Dullens | University of Oxford | Awarded for world-leading research to elucidate definitive experimental answers to fundamental problems in condensed matter science. |
2019 | Professor Igor Larrosa | The University of Manchester | Awarded for groundbreaking contributions to C-H activation and decarboxylative cross-couplings in organic chemistry. |
2019 | Professor Aron Walsh | Imperial College London | Awarded for outstanding contributions to computational chemistry, in particular, to the study of hybrid organic-inorganic solids. |
2018 | Professor Erwin Reisner | University of Cambridge | Awarded for the development of solar-driven catalysis with molecularly engineered semiconductors and semi-artificial photosynthesis. |
2018 | Professor Oren Scherman | University of Cambridge | Awarded for ground-breaking discoveries in supramolecular chemistry. |
2018 | Professor Magdalena Titirici | Queen Mary University of London | Awarded for the production of low-cost biomass derived nanostructured carbons in water and their impact in renewable energy technologies. |
2017 | Professor Andrew Goodwin | University of Oxford | Awarded for his innovative studies of correlated disorder and its role in functional materials. |
2017 | Professor Eva Hevia | University of Strathclyde | Awarded for her research on polar organometallic chemistry and in particular important contributions towards air- and moisture-tolerant synthesis. |
2017 | Professor Tuomas Knowles | University of Cambridge | Awarded for his fundamental work on the mechanism of amyloid aggregation, including the discovery of the role of secondary nucleation. |
2016 | Professor Ian Fairlamb | University of York | Awarded for his fundamental mechanistic work in transition metal catalysis, organometallic chemistry and applied chemical synthesis. |
2016 | Professor Angelos Michaelides | University College London | Awarded for the development of computational methods and applications that have significantly advanced understanding of several important chemical systems. |
2016 | Professor Charlotte Williams | Imperial College London | Awarded for her work on polymer chemistry and catalysis and in particular recognition for her contributions to the catalytic activation of renewable resources to make polymers and fuels. |
2015 | Professor Sharon Ashbrook | University of St Andrews | Awarded for her contribution to the structure of materials combining solid-state NMR spectroscopy and first-principles calculations. |
2015 | Professor Andrei Khlobystov | University of Nottingham | Awarded for his pioneering work on carbon nano-containers and nano-reactors leading to new ways of directing molecular assembly and studying chemical reactions. |
2015 | Professor Stephen Liddle | University of Nottingham | Awarded for his outstanding contributions to actinide chemistry, including significant advances in our understanding of the bonding, reactivity and magnetism in uranium and thorium compounds in particular. |
2014 | Professor Milo Shaffer | Imperial College London | Awarded for the development of transformative new nanocarbon chemistry and applications that can be applied at a practical scale. |
2014 | Professor David Spring | University of Cambridge | Awarded for his contributions to chemistry-driven drug discovery through his work in diversity-oriented synthesis and chemical biology. |
2014 | Professor Molly Stevens | Imperial College London | Awarded for her research in the field of biomedical materials, especially her development of nanoparticles and diagnostic platforms that can detect biomarkers corresponding to specific disease states such as cancer and infectious disease. |
2013 | Professor Matthew Gaunt | University of Cambridge | Awarded for his key advances in enantioselective catalysis, Pd-catalyzed C-H functionalization, and pioneering research in the field of Cu catalysis with diaryliodonium salts. |
2013 | Dr Martin Heeney | Imperial College London | Awarded for his pioneering research into organic materials synthesis, achieved since moving from industry into successful independent academic career. |
2013 | Professor Jonathan Reid | University of Bristol | Awarded for outstanding achievements in the study of physical and chemical properties of aerosol particles. |
2012 | Professor Polly Arnold | University of Edinburgh | Awarded for her outstanding contributions to the application of organometallic uranium chemistry to small molecule activation. |
2012 | Professor Lee Cronin | University of Glasgow | Awarded for his outstanding work on the self-assembly of inorganic molecules and the engineering of complex systems. |
2012 | Professor David Smith | University of York | Awarded for his signigificant contributions to supramolecular and nanoscale chemistry, specifically to: (i) self-assembling gels and other nanomaterials, (ii) Bioactive multivalent dendrons with applications in nanomedicine. |
2011 | Michaele Hardie | University of Leeds | Awarded for her significant contributions to the assembly of metal complexes and their crystal engineering. |
2011 | Fred Manby | University of Bristol | Awarded for his contributions to the development of explicitly correlated electronic structure theory, and of electronic structure methods for condensed phases. |
2011 | Jonathan Nitschke | University of Cambridge | Awarded for his innovative use of dynamic metal-ligand chemistry to create entirely new functional supramolecular systems in water. |
2010 | Euan Brechin | University of Edinburgh | Awarded for the development of new principles for the synthesis of molecular magnetic materials, for the understanding of their magnetic behaviour and for the development of their applications especially in magnetic cooling. |
2010 | Jason Chin | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology | Awarded for his pioneering work on genetically encoding the synthesis of novel polymers in cells through the development of methods to incorporate, for example, new amino acids. |
2010 | Jonathan Steed | Durham University | Awarded for his outstanding contributions in the fields of supramolecular and structural chemistry. |
2009 | Andrew Cooper | University of Liverpool | Awarded for his outstanding contributions to materials chemistry, in particular with porous organic polymers. |
2009 | Andrew deMello | Imperial College London | Awarded for his pioneering work in microfluidics, and in the field of nanobioanalytical research. |
2009 | Duncan Graham | University of Strathclyde | Awarded for his outstanding and pioneering contributions to nanometrology in support of molecular manipulation and chemical and biological detection systems. |
2008 | Stephen Faulkner | University of Oxford |
Awarded for pioneering contributions to the coordination chemistry and spectroscopy of the f-block elements, and for his application of kinetically stable metal complexes in the preparation of more complicated architectures. |
2008 | Adam Nelson | University of Leeds | Awarded for his applications of organic chemistry to novel asymmetric synthesis, and to chemical biology through the directed evolution of enzymes. |
2008 | David Tozer | Durham University |
Awarded for his outstanding contributions to the development and application of density functional theory. |
2007 | This Award was not awarded for 2007 |
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2007 | This Award was not awarded for 2007 |
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2007 | This Award was not awarded for 2007 |
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2006 | Professor Neil R Champness | University of Nottingham |
Distinguished for his work on the control of nanostructures of molecular species on surfaces and his contribution to the topology of network solids. |
2006 | Professor Timothy J Donohoe | University of Oxford |
Distinguished for his many exciting contributions to synthetic organic chemistry, including asymmetric hydroxylations, oxidative cyclisation, reduction of aromatic heterocycles and applications to total synthesis. |
2006 | Dr Jeremy N Harvey | University of Bristol |
Distinguished for his outstanding computational investigations of spin-forbidden reactions. |
2005 | Dr Ben G Davis | University of Oxford |
Distinguished for his contributions to the synthetic chemistry of carbohydrates and to glycobiology. |
2005 | Professor Helen H Fielding | University College London |
Distinguished for her innovative and creative use of both experiment and theory to understand and control the dynamics of Rydberg and vibrational wavepackets. |
2005 | Professor Philip A Gale | University of Southampton |
Distinguished for his contributions to coordination and supramolecular chemistry, in particular selective anion recognition and sensing. |
2004 | Dr Stuart C Althorpe | University of Nottingham |
Distinguished for his original work in the development of new quantum mechanical methods for the study of chemical reaction dynamics. |
2004 | Professor David W C MacMillan | California Institute of Technology |
Distinguished for his seminal contributions to asymmetric organocatalysis of carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions, including the Claisen rearrangement, Diels-Alder cycloadditions and Aldol reactions. |
2004 | Professor James H Naismith | University of St Andrews |
Distinguished for his contributions to the structures of a number of key enzymes, and to the understanding of their chemistry and biology. |
2003 | Professor Jonathan P Clayden | University of Manchester |
Distinguished for his seminal contributions to the synthesis of materials and in particular, for his work on solid state metathesis and atmospheric pressuree chemical vapour deposition. |
2003 | Professor Mike W George | University of Nottingham |
Distinguished for his exceptional contributions to experimental studies on reaction intermediates using ultrafast time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy. |
2003 | Professor Guy C Lloyd-Jones | University of Bristol |
Distinguished for his work encompassing asymmetric synthesis and catalysis, physical organic chemistry, transition metal chemistry, spectroscopy and mechanistic studies. |
2002 | Dr Alan Armstrong | Imperial College London |
Distinguished for his work on catalytic asymmetric epoxidation and the total synthesis of (+)-zaragozic acid C. |
2002 | Dr Shankar Balasubramanian | University of Cambridge |
Distinguished for his world-class studies at the interface of chemistry and biology, including the fluorescence resonance energy transfer work on biomolecules, the synthesis and characterisation of nucleic acids including the catalytic region of human telomerase, and the invention of a photochemical linker for application in the field of combinatorial chemistry. |
2002 | Professor Russell E Morris | University of St Andrews |
Distinguished for his work on the development of methods of inorganic, organic and organometallic synthesis for the preparation of inorganic/organic hybrid materials with specific reactivity and/or predetermined architectures, especially porous solids (zeolites) and dendrimer materials, and for the development of new crystallographic methods for the determination of their structures. |
2002 | Professor Stephen D Price | University College London |
Distinguished for his innovative measurements on the fundamental dynamics of reactions involving doubly charged cations and his development of experiments designed to mimic reactions on interstellar dust grains. |
2001 | Dr Harry L Anderson | University of Oxford |
Distinguished for his original work on the design, synthesis and properties of supramolecular systems and functional materials. |
2001 | Professor Gideon J Davies | University of York |
Distinguished for his insightful work on the structural and mechanistic basis of enzyme-catalysed glycosyl transfer. |
2001 | Professor Steve M Howdle | University of Nottingham |
Distinguished for his innovative applications of supercritical fluids to synthesise polymers and biocompatible materials. |
2001 | Professor Patrick R Unwin | University of Warwick |
Distinguished for his development and application of new techniques to study physicochemical processes at liquid/solid, liquid/liquid and liquid/gas interfaces. |
2000 | Dr Colin D Bain | University of Oxford |
Distinguished for his spectroscopic studies of liquid/vapour and liquid/solid interfaces. |
2000 | Professor Matthew J Rosseinsky | University of Liverpool |
Distinguished for his work in the general area of solid state chemistry and materials, particularly fulleride salts, the synthesis of materials having colossal magnetoresistance and the construction of microporous solids from molecular precursors. |
2000 | Professor Jonathan M J Williams | University of Bath |
Distinguished for his contributions to synthetic organic methodology, particularly in the design of ligands for asymmetric catalysis. |
1999 | Professor Kenneth D M Harris | University of Birmingham |
Distinguished for his exceptionally versatile contributions to the elucidation of the structure, dynamics and reactivity of organic molecular crystals. |
1999 | Professor Christopher A Hunter | University of Sheffield |
Distinguished for his contribution to molecular recognition including quantitative studies of non-covalent molecular interactions expecially between aromatic systems, preparation of non-covalent supramolecular assemblies with novel properties, and studies into the fine structure of duplex nucleic acids. |
1999 | Dr Mike D Ward | University of Bristol |
Distinguished for his work in heterocyclic ligand-transition metal coordination chemistry, and particularly for the development of potential molecular wires, luminescent complexes and supramolecular assemblies. |
1998 | Varinder K Aggarwal |
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1998 | J Paul Attfield |
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1998 | Donald Craig |
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1997 | Dr Ian Manners | University of Toronto |
Distinguished for his seminal contributions to inorganic and organometallic polymer chemistry, including ingenious use of ring-opening reactions to generate polymers containing both transition metal and main group chain-forming elements. |
1997 | Dr David E Manolopoulos | University of Oxford |
Distinguished for his outstanding contributions to understanding the structure and stability of fullerenes, fundamental aspects of chemical dynamics, and the development of computational methods. |
1997 | Dr Dermot M O'Hare | University of Oxford |
Distinguished for his outstanding contributions to new intercalation and chalcogenide compounds as superconductors, and for the elegant use of X-ray and neutron diffrection and NMR spectroscopy for their in situ characterisation. |
1996 | Professor Duncan W Bruce | University of Exeter |
Distinguished for his innovative multi-disciplinary approach to the synthesis and characterisation of metal-containing liquid crystals with novel properties. |
1996 | M J Hampden-Smith |
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1996 | Dr Nicholas J Turner | University of Edinburgh |
Distinguished for his contributions to enzyme-catalysed organic synthesis, and studies of the biosynthesis of carbocyclic nucleoside. |
1995 | Andrew R Barron |
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1995 | Jeremy G Frey |
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1995 | Gerard F R Parkin |
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1993-1994 | Vernon C Gibson |
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1993-1994 | Nigel S Simpkins |
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1993-1994 | Timothy P Softley |
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1992 | Paul D Beer |
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1992 | Timothy C Gallagher |
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1992 | David E Logan | University of Oxford |
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1991 | David Gani |
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1991 | Jeremy M Hutson |
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1991 | Professor Stephen Mann | University of Bath |
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1990 | David Crich |
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1990 | Patrick W Fowler |
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1990 | Ian P Rothwell |
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1989 | Michael N R Ashfold | University of Bristol |
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1989 | David C Clary | University of Cambridge |
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1989 | Martin Schroder | University of Edinburgh |
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1988 | F Geoffrey N Cloke | University of Sussex |
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1988 | Gareth A Morris | University of Manchester |
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1988 | Peter J Sarre |
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1988 | Stephen G Withers |
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1987 | John M Newsam |
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1987 | A Guy Orpen |
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1987 | David Parker | Durham University |
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1986 | Professor Anthony G M Barrett | Northwestern University |
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1986 | G Christou |
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1986 | Paul R Raithby |
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1985 | William Clegg |
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1985 | Peter P Edwards |
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1985 | Christopher J Moody |
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1984 | N J Cooper |
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1984 | Stephen G Davies |
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1984 | A Harriman |
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1983 | David J Cole-Hamilton |
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1983 | W Jones |
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1983 | William B Motherwell |
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1982 | Anthony K Cheetham | University of Oxford |
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1982 | Robert H Crabtree | Yale University |
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1982 | Thomas J Simpson |
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1981 | Christopher M Dobson | University of Oxford |
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1981 | Brian J Howard |
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1981 | D A Jefferson |
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1980 | Gus Hancock |
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1980 | Selby A R Knox |
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1980 | Steven V Ley |
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1979 | Malcolm H Chisholm |
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1979 | Geraldine A Kenney-Wallace | University of Toronto |
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1979 | S M Roberts |
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1978 | Philip D Magnus |
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1978 | David M P Mingos | University of Oxford |
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1978 | George M Sheldrick | University of Cambridge |
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1977 | Laurence D Barron |
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1977 | B T Golding |
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1977 | J Steven Ogden |
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1976 | Melvyn R Churchill |
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1976 | Roger Grice |
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1976 | Kevin M Smith |
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1975 | Robert J Donovan |
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1975 | J A Osborn |
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1975 | Gerry Pattenden |
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1974 | Laurance D Hall |
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1974 | Brian F G Johnson |
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1974 | A McKillop |
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1973 | Jack E Baldwin | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
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1973 | Geoffrey R Luckhurst |
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1973 | John F Nixon |
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1972 | Dr Malcolm L H Green | University of Oxford |
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1972 | David Husain |
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1972 | P G Sammes |
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1971 | M J Perkins |
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1971 | L F Phillips |
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1971 | P L Timms |
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1970 | Professor A David Buckingham | University of Cambridge |
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1970 | Donald W Cameron |
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1970 | N B H Jonathan |
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1969 | Peter Day |
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1969 | M Green |
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1969 | Gordon W Kirby |
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1968 | A Fish |
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1968 | Frank McCapra |
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1968 | D H Williams |
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1967 | Dr Alan Carrington | University of Cambridge |
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1967 | Professor Richard O C Norman | University of York |
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1967 | Dr John Meurig Thomas | University of Wales, Bangor |
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1966 | Richard N Dixon |
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1966 | M L E Tobe |
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1965 | Professor John I G Cadogan | University of St Andrews |
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1965 | R Mason |
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1964 | H M Frey |
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1964 | A Ian Scott |
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1963 | George Sim |
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1962 | Neil Bartlett | University of British Columbia |
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1961 | Franz Sondheimer | Weizmann Institute of Science |
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1960 | Dr Robert N Haszeldine | University of Cambridge |
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1959 | Dr Alan R Battersby | University of Manchester |
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1958 | Professor Charles Kemball | Queen's University Belfast |
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1957 | Professor George W Kenner | University of Liverpool |
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1956 | K W Bagnall |
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1955 | Professor George Porter | University of Sheffield |
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1954 | Dr Rex E Richards | University of Oxford |
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1953 | Dr John W Cornforth | MRC National Institute for Medical Research |
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1952 | Dr James Baddiley | Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine |
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1951 | Dr Frederick Sanger | University of Cambridge |
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1950 | Dr Ronald S Nyholm | University College London |
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1949 | Dr Derek H R Barton | Imperial College London |
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Re-thinking recognition: Science prizes for the modern world
This report is the result of an independent review of our recognition programmes. Our aim in commissioning this review was to ensure that our recognition portfolio continues to deliver the maximum impact for chemical scientists, chemistry and society.