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| Gustavus John Esselen Award |
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Awards |
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- a brief history |
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In 1985
an inquiry was made as to whether the Section would wish to honor
another former leader of the Northeastern Section. The Esselen family
proposed to donate a sum of money to provide for an award in the
memory of Gustavus John Esselen II, Chairman in 1922 and 1923, and
a member of the ACS Board of Directors for many years. In 1948, Dr.
Esselen received a special award, the James Flack Norris Honor Scroll, "as
the person who has done most to advance the interests of the Northeastern
Section." A committee consisting of William O. Foye, Truman S. Light,
Arthur S. Obermayer, and Myron S. Simon, Section Chairman, met with
Esselen's son, Gustavus J. Esselen III, and recommended to the Board
of Directors that the Section accept the offer, which it did. The
committee and Mr. Esselen agreed that the award should not be in
a specific field of chemistry, but instead should have the special
purpose of emphasizing the positive values of chemistry to mankind.
In light of the climate of the day, with the disaster of Bhopal on
every chemist's mind and the public receiving nothing but negative
stories about chemistry from the media, this was to be a small step
toward establishing a balance.
Mr. Esselen proposed to add a bronze medal to the monetary award. A prominent
sculptor from Newton, Massachusetts, Lloyd Lillie, was selected to prepare the
design which was then approved by members of the Esselen family. The fact that
Dr. Esselen had done much work in plastics during his career led his son to propose
that the bronze medal be imbedded in a block of clear plastic, which was done,
to give a very distinctive addition to the ceremonial presentation.
The first presentation of the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the
Public Interest was made in 1987 to F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario J. Molina for
their work on the chemical processes which were destroying the stratospheric
ozone layer, explaining the formation of the Antarctic Ozone Hole. Since then,
the award has been given to chemists in several fields of chemistry and has become
a much coveted prize.
Myron S. Simon, assisted by Phyllis A. Brauner, Arno Heyn and Arthur S. Obermayer
with suggestions from Edward R. Atkinson. "The Last Quarter Century, Part I," The
Nucleus, Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society, Inc., February,
1998, pp 17-18. |
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