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
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 J. W. Debye
1964 John C. Bailar, Jr. 1965 William J. Sparks 1966 William O. Baker 1967 Ralph Connor 1968 William G. Young 1969 Kenneth S. Pitzer
1970s
1970 Max Tishler
1971 Frederick D. Rossini
1972 George B. Kistiakowsky
1973 Harold C. Urey
1974 Paul J. Flory
1975 Henry Eyring
1976 George S. Hammond
1977 Henry Gilman
1978 Melvin Calvin
1979 Glenn T. Seaborg
1980s
1980 Milton Harris
1981 Herbert C. Brown
1982 Bryce Crawford, Jr. 1983 Robert S. Mulliken 1984 Linus Pauling 1985 Henry Taube 1986 Karl A. Folkers 1987 John D. Roberts 1988 Frank H. Westheimer 1989 George C. Pimentel