JUNE 2007 | VOLUME 10 | NUMBER 6 57

Top Marks at European Science Foundation

John Marks has become the new chief

executive (CEO) of the European

Science Foundation (ESF), taking over

from Bertil Andersson. Andersson, who

left at the beginning of April, has taken

up the post of Rector at the Nanyang

Technological University in Singapore

after more than three years as CEO.

Marks was previously the ESF director

of science and strategy. He promises

to make 2007 “a year of delivery”,

building on the Strategic Plan 2006-

2010 that he initiated with Andersson.

From plastic bags to airbagsAmong the winners of the 2007

European Inventor of the Year awards

are Catia Bastioli and her team at

Italian company Novamont, who

collected the SMEs/research category

award for inventing biodegradable

plastics from starch, a renewable

raw material. These plastics are used

worldwide, for instance in ecofriendly

refuse bags. The industry category went

to Franz Lärmer and Andrea Urban for

creating the Bosch Process, a revolution

in the world of microelectromechanical

systems (MEMS). Their invention has

influenced practically all MEMS fields

and has opened up a new world of

affordable car safety devices, such as

airbags.

Chemist recognized for publicizing scienceBassam Z. Shakhashiri of the University

of Wisconsin has been awarded the

National Science Board Public Service

Award for 2007. Shakhashiri has

pioneered new ways to encourage

public understanding of science

through visually exciting chemical

demonstrations and by communicating

science through lectures, radio, and

television.

Cost-effective hydrogenImperial College London, UK has

been awarded $8.4 million from the

Engineering and Physical Science

Research Council (EPSRC) to explore

the production of renewable, carbon-

free, and cost-effective hydrogen by

harvesting solar energy. The program

will develop both biological- and solar-

driven processes to produce hydrogen,

which can be used to power fuel cells.

Robert Wolfgang Cahn FRS9 September 1924 – 9 April 2007

Robert Cahn was one of

the creators of materials

science, and he wrote the

definitive history of its

emergence1. There can

scarcely be a practicing

materials scientist who

has not had contact with

Robert’s contributions in

whatever form, a book

or commentary written

by him, an encyclopedia edited by him, a journal

founded by him. Cahn’s Column in this magazine was

but one flourish of many.

An unsettled childhood – flight from Nazi Germany,

family break-up, patchy schooling in Germany,

Spain, and England – when given direction by

Robert’s own resolve, ended with his entry to Trinity

College, Cambridge, in 1942. His undergraduate

studies in metallurgy were followed by a PhD in

the Cavendish Laboratory under Egon Orowan. This

classic elucidation of polygonization was followed

over later years by work on recrystallization, ordering

in alloys and intermetallics, rapid solidification

of alloys, and metallic glasses. This research, in

recognition of which Robert was elected a Fellow of

the Royal Society (among many elections, awards,

and medals), was of such distinction that Robert

would be well known even in the absence of his

broader work.

Robert held posts at the UK Atomic Energy Research

Establishment, Harwell, and at the Universities of

Birmingham, Bangor, Sussex (where he was proud to

be the first professor of materials science in the UK),

Paris, and Cambridge. A founder editor of the Journal

of Nuclear Materials, Journal of Materials Science,

and Intermetallics, Robert also wrote extensively for

Nature where his commentaries (many collected in2)

became recognized contributions in their own right.

He was active in editing three major encyclopedias of

materials science and three major book series.

The phrase ‘living life to the full’ could have been

designed for Robert Cahn. He indulged interests in

mountains, music, art, literature, photography, and

family. He is survived by Pat, their four children, and

twelve grandchildren. In his autobiography3, Robert

suggests his own epitaph “driven by fate to wander

far and wide”, a reference to his family history and

scientific travels. It is for his firmly international

perspective in pursuing science and in fostering brilliant

young minds that Robert will be most sorely missed.

A. Lindsay Greer Head of the Department of Materials Science and

Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, UK

Guggenheim Foundation 2007 Fellows announcedThe John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

has announced the recipients of the 2007 fellowships,

given to advanced professionals in all fields, from

natural and social sciences to humanities and creative

arts. Only two chemists and two physicists are named

in this year’s US and Canadian competition. Roberto

D. Merlin (University of Michigan) and Shoucheng

Zhang (Stanford University) receive fellowships for

their work in condensed matter physics. Merlin uses

light scattering to study a wide range of systems such

as superconductors and transition metal oxides, while

Zhang’s interests include the theory of quantum spin

transport and high-temperature superconductivity.

The chemistry fellowships are awarded to Eric R.

Bittner (University of Houston), for his research in

the dynamics of electron transfer between organic

molecules, and Geraldine Richmond (University of

Oregon), who investigates molecular structure and

interactions at surfaces and interfaces.

Chemist sniffs out the Lemelson-MIT prizeChemist Timothy M. Swager of Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT) has ‘sniffed’ his way

to the prestigious $500 000 Lemelson-MIT prize. The

Lemelson-MIT Awards honor both established and

rising inventors for their ingenuity, creativity, and

contribution to invention and innovation, and recognize

the impact that inventors can have on economic and

social well-being. Swager’s most notable invention is an

amplified chemical sensor that uses molecular wires to

detect the presence of vapors from explosives, such as

TNT. Unlike most molecular sensors where the strength

of the emitted signal is proportional to the number of

target molecules reaching the sensor, Swager’s design

requires only one target molecule to strike the wire,

making it incredibly sensitive.

Lee Lynd of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire won

the inaugural $100 000 award for sustainability. Lynd

has invented advanced technologies for converting

biomass feedstocks into motor vehicle fuels.

PEOPLE & PLACES

REFERENCES

1. Cahn, R. W., The Coming of Materials Science,

Pergamon, Oxford, (2001)

2. Cahn, R. W., Artifice and Artefacts, Institute of

Physics, Bristol, (1992)

3. Cahn, R. W., The Art of Belonging, Book Guild,

Brighton (2005)