The medal is awarded once every ten years for outstanding and groundbreaking work in the field of chemistry, excluding biochemistry. Bert Meijer is the second recipient ever. The prize was first awarded in 2011.
”I am very honoured.”-Bert Meijer
Meijer happily shares “I see it as a wonderful appreciation for the research that the many students, PhD students and postdocs in our group have carried out over the decades.”
Meijer receives the prize because he has been working on stereochemistry for many years. He introduced the chemical form, which made him world-renowned. Stereochemistry is the study of the spatial structure of compounds and molecules and the consequences of how substances react to each other. With this contribution, Meijer more than met the criteria to receive the medal. The winner’s work must therefore be excellent and groundbreaking.
Rightful winner
According to the jury chairman Wybren Jan Buma. ”Meijer is regarded worldwide as one of the founders in his field. His work has pioneered the mechanisms underlying chemical self-assembly. He has shown that these materials offer unique opportunities to successfully develop solutions.”
Medal
The medal is named after the Dutch chemist JH van ‘t Hoff. The Dutch chemist won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1901. The first winner of this award, Ben Feringa, went on to win a Nobel Prize in 2016. As a result of the pandemic, the ceremony took place a year later than planned.
