IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry

Through the years, there have been countless contributions of women to chemistry.  In this International Year of the Periodic Table, it is important to recognize the contributions that women have made in the field.  Historically, most notable are the distinct roles that women have played in the development of the Periodic Table – Marie Curie (discovery of radium (Ra) and polonium (Po), received two Nobel Prizes for her work on radiation, and became the namesake of curium (Cm));  Berta Karlik (astatine (At));  Lise Meitner (isotope of protactinium (Pa), discovered nuclear fission, namesake of meitnerium (Mt); Ida Noddack (rhenium (Re); nominated three times for a Nobel Prize); Marguerite Perey (francium (Fr)).

In special issues of Pure and Applied Chemistry —February and April 2019– in celebration of the International Year of the Periodic Table and the 100^th anniversary of IUPAC, we recognize a number of the women who received the IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award. They have provided short technical reviews for this special issue, or have provided career advice and insight for future scientists and engineering, or have provided examples of how they have navigated the many challenges and opportunities they have encountered in their own careers.

… link to PAC, keywords “Distinguished+Women+in+Chemistry+and+Chemical+Engineering”
In PAC, Feb 2019: Brimble | Separovic | Linse | Banci | Gimeno | Kohse-Höinghaus | Simon Sarkadi | Aida | Meyer | Ribes | Hering | Hargittai | Lerman

For the International Year of Chemistry in 2011, a project, “Are Women still Underrepresented in Science?” was initiated to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Marie Curie.  The project, first sponsored by the American Chemical Society, and initially led by Ingrid Montes and Janet Bryant, included the first international award dedicated to the recognition of distinguished women chemists and chemical engineers across the globe, and acknowledgement and promotion of their work worldwide.

23 women were recognized with the first “IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering”, and the awards were presented at the IUPAC General Assembly and World Chemistry Congress held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, meetings hosted by the Colegio de Quimicos de Puerto Rico and under the leadership IUPAC President Nicole J. Moreau (France).  Women were recognized for their distinction and excellence in chemistry and chemical engineering, whether in research, leadership, teaching, management, industry, government, academia, or whatever work sector in which the women are engaged. Among the women honored by the first award were Nobel Laureate Ada Yonath and Princess Chulabhorn (Somdet Phrachao Luk Thoe Chaofa Chulabhorn Walailak Agrarajakmurai) of Thailand, who has been a remarkable advocate for chemistry.

The celebration and recognition of women in chemistry that was begun in 2011 continues, and has continued at each biennial IUPAC General Assembly and World Chemistry Congress since then.  In addition to an awards program that is held at each meeting to present the awards, a symposium is also held to discuss the status of women in chemistry across the globe.  Challenges that women can encounter in their careers and routes to navigate challenges have been addressed by the distinguished awardees.  The presentations have been motivational, and have been very helpful to women who are newer in the field, to help them understand that everyone faces challenges in their careers, and, that those challenges are not unsurmountable.

To date, four groups of scientists have now been recognized with the IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award.

On 2 August 2011, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 23 women were recognized with the very first IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award.

The awardees were:

Nouria A. Al-Awadi (Kuwait)
Faizah Mohammed Abdel Mohsin Al-Kharafi (Kuwait)
Ayse Aroguz (Turkey)
Vanderlan Bolzani (Brazil)
Novella Bridges (USA)
Luisa De Cola (Germany)
Joanna Fowler (USA)
Véronique Gouverneur (UK)
Magdolna Hargittai (Hungary)
Nancy B. Jackson (USA)
Susan M. Kauzlarich (USA)
Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus (Germany)
H.R.H. Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol (Thailand)
Nicole J. Moreau (France)
Linda F. Nazar (Canada)
Izabela Nowak (Poland)
Carolyn Ribes (Netherlands)
Sara Snogerup Linse (Sweden)
Yoshie Souma (Japan)
Natalia Tarasova (Russia)
Klára Tóth (Hungary)
Lesley J. Yellowlees (UK)
Ada E. Yonath (Israel)

More details about the 2011 recognition program are provided at the following websites:

http://iupac.org/publications/ci/2011/3306/5_montes.html

http://www.chemistry2011.org/participate/activities/show?id=1156

http://imageevent.com/pnwalumnaeconnection/wccalbums/iupacworldchemistrycongress2011

In 2013, the awards program was held at the 2013 IUPAC General Assembly and 44^th World Chemistry Congress; meetings that occurred under the leadership of IUPAC President Kazuyuki Tatsumi (Japan) and the organization of the Turkish Chemical Society.  The awards program was held in a garden ceremony at the Istanbul Lutfi Kirdar Convention and Exhibition Center.  The continuation of the recognition program beyond the International Year of Chemistry was supported by both IUPAC (https://iupac.org/project/2013-002-2-022) and ICSU (renamed in 2018 as ISC, the International Science Council).

The 2013 honorees were:

Irina P. Beletskaya (Russia)
Annette Doherty (UK)
Mary Garson (Australia)
Evamarie Hey-Hawkins (Germany)
Kazue Kurihara (Japan)
Liliana Mammino (South Africa)
Elsa Reichmanis (USA)
Concepcio Rovira (Spain)
Maria Vallet-Regi (Spain)
Angela Wilson (USA)
Yi Xie (China)

A symposium was held where the awardees described their careers, support, and challenges they encountered, and shared advice and recommendation for younger scientists. An additional discussion was held about the status of women in chemistry across the globe.

For the 2015 IUPAC project, https://iupac.org/project/2015-007-1-020, and recognition program, the award ceremony took place during the IUPAC 48^th General Assembly and 45^th World Chemistry Congress at the Busan Exhibition and Conference Center (Bexco) in Busan, Korea, which was hosted by the Korean Chemical Society under the leadership of IUPAC President Mark Cesa (USA).

The awardees of the IUPAC 2015 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering recognition are as follows:

Lucia Banci (Italy)
Margaret Brimble (New Zealand)
Ewa Bulska (Poland)
Karen Gleason (USA)
Janet Hering (Switzerland)
Nadia G. Kandile (Egypt)
Maki Kawai (Japan)
Hyunjoo Lee (South Korea)
Carmen Najera (Spain)
Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff (Germany)
Roberta Sessoli (Italy)
Livia Simon Sarkadi (Hungary)

The ceremony coincided with a symposium entitled “Women in Chemistry: Gaining Momentum” and a reception, which were both held in honor of the recipients.  At the symposium, award recipients shared their stories, describing their personal career highlights, and provided their insight about how women can best achieve success in chemistry.

The fourth recognition of women chemists and chemical engineers took place during the opening ceremony of the 46^th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress, held at the WTC Center in São Paulo, Brazil and hosted by the Brazilian Chemical Society under the leadership of IUPAC President Natalia Tarasova (Russia). A symposium was held, and the awardees participated in a panel discussion about their career pathways, challenges they encountered, and advice to younger chemists.

For background information about these awards, see iupac.org/iupac-2017-distinguished-women

The 2017 awardees were:

Misako Aida (Japan)
Lifeng Chi (China)
Concepción Gimeno (Spain)
Jaqueline Kiplinger (USA)
Zafra Lerman (USA)
Thisbe K. Lindhorst (Germany)
Ekaterina Lokteva (Russia)
Yvonne Mascarenhas (Brazil)
Veronika Ruth Meyer (Switzerland)
Ingrid Montes-González (Puerto Rico)
Frances Separovic (Australia)
Jihon Yu (China)

The program continues to recognize outstanding women, and in time to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science this February 11, 2019, IUPAC announced the awardees of the IUPAC 2019 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering:

Professor Kim Baldridge, School Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin, China
Professor Donna Blackmond, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
Professor Susan Bourne, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
Professor Janine Cossy, ESPCI, Paris, France
Professor Vicki Grassian, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Professor Otilia Mó Romero, Univ Autonoma Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Professor Elizabeth Ann Nalley, Cameron University, Lawton, OK, USA
Professor Carol Vivien Robinson, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Professor Molly Shoichet, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Professor Luisa Torsi, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
Professor Chris Willis, School of Chemistry, Bristol, United Kingdom
Professor Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden

An award ceremony will take place during the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in Paris, France, coinciding with the special symposium on Women in Chemistry and reception in honor of the recipients. See www.iupac2019.org for details.

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

American Chemical Society

International Science Council

Colegio de Quimicos de Puerto Rico

Turkish Chemical Society

Korean Chemical Society

Brazilian Chemical Society

Comité National Français de la Chimie (French National Adhering Organization to IUPAC)

The Dow Chemical Company

Hugh Burrows, Editor, Pure and Applied Chemistry

IUPAC Presidents:  Nicole Moreau, Kazuyuki Tatsumi, Mark Cesa, Natalia Tarasova, and Qi-Feng Zhou