Posted on Aug. 8: Gary Schrobilgen: He’s purely a chemist for our times

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Schrobilgen-award.jpg” caption=”Gary Schrobilgen”]McMaster chemist Gary Schrobilgen has long been recognized as a world leader in main-group fluorine chemistry. In June he received two awards that attest to his continued leadership in this area. The Canadian Society for Chemistry awarded him the 2002 Alcan Award and the 2002 Award for Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry at its annual meeting in June. Significantly, the Vancouver event marked the first time a Canadian researcher has won both awards in the same year.

The Alcan Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contributions in the fields of inorganic chemistry or electrochemistry.

The Award for Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to industrial or academic inorganic chemistry, within the five calendar years preceding the year of nomination.

Schrobilgen conducts fundamental research in inorganic fluorine chemistry and the polyatomic anions of the main-group elements. His research is important in helping us to better understand the structure and chemical bonding in so-called hypervalent molecules and main-group ring, cage and cluster species. He also conducts research in two areas of radiochemistry and on the noble gases krypton and xenon. Many of his compounds are now examples in textbooks.

Schrobilgen's work has garnered him numerous awards including a Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship, the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Flourine Chemistry and Fellowship in the Royal Soceity of Canada. His most recent awards confirm the continued importance of fundamental research at a time when applied and practical research often garner more research dollars and headlines.

Schrobilgen has also won awards here at home. In 1997, he received the President's Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision.

Award nominator and professor emeritus of chemistry Ron Gillespie says Schrobilgen is well-deserving of the prestige. “Gary is truly a chemist's chemist who is dedicated to increasing our knowledge and understanding of chemistry, for its own sake, in the true tradition of academic research. His dedication to chemistry and his outstanding skills in the laboratory continue to be a great inspiration for his students.”

Photo: Carmen Karnapke of Alcan presents Gary Schrobilgen with the 2002 Alcan Award.