Gray Wins Prestigious Medal for Achievements in Chemistry

Harry Gray, the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry and the founding director of the Beckman Institute, has been awarded the Theodore William Richards Medal for "conspicuous achievement in chemistry." The award is the oldest and most prestigious award of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS). It is named in honor of the first U.S. Nobel laureate in Chemistry.

Over the past 20 years, Gray's research on electron-transfer chemistry has spanned across inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics. Electron transfer, the fundamental process by which atoms trade electrons, is ubiquitous in both natural and artificial systems from photosynthesis to photography. While this process is a cornerstone for much of chemistry, its mechanisms can be complex. Researchers in the Gray group measure rates of electron exchange within diverse metals and proteins, and have accelerated those rates for certain compounds that naturally transfer electrons very slowly.

Gray is also the director for the Center for Chemical Innovation (CCI Solar), which aims to create a clean, storable fuel from sunlight using artificial photosynthesis. Artificial photosynthesis requires a catalyst to absorb solar energy to split water into hydrogen fuel and oxygen. Traditional catalysts for this artificial process, like platinum, tend to be expensive and scarce. Gray's group is hunting for a mixture of simple, inexpensive, and abundant metal-oxide catalysts that can mimic the complex mechanisms of photosynthesis that occur in nature.

Gray has received numerous awards and honors, including the National Medal of Science in 1986 and the California Scientist of the Year in 1988. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has also published 17 books and more than 730 research papers.

Gray will receive the Richards Medal at the NESACS meeting on March 5, 2015, where he will give an award address titled "Solar-Driven Water Splitting."