Priestley Medal winner Peter J. Stang. Credit: University of Utah <\/p>\n
SALT LAKE CITY, July 23 (UPI) -- A University of Utah organic chemist recently given a National Medal of Science by President Obama has won chemistry's highest honor, the school says. <\/p>\n
Organic chemist Peter J. Stang has won the American Chemical Society's 2013 Priestley Medal, said to be the highest honor from the world's largest scientific group, a university release reported. <\/p>\n
The medal, considered a lifetime achievement award for chemists, was given in recognition of Stang's \"cutting-edge research that has had far-reaching implications for many areas of science, including drug development and more efficient ways to produce gasoline and home heating oil.\" <\/p>\n
The 164,000-member ACS announced the honor July 20. <\/p>\n
\"It is humbling to be listed among the distinguished previous recipients,\" said Stang, a Utah professor of chemistry whose family fled Hungary when he was a teenager after the Communist takeover in 1956. <\/p>\n
The Priestley Medal, first awarded in 1922, is named for British chemist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), whose discovery of oxygen in 1774 explained why and how things burn, and proved air was made of a mixture of gases. <\/p>\n
Stang, who became a naturalized citizen in 1962, has served as editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society since 2002. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
More here: Priestley Medal winner Peter J. Continue reading
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