In 1972, the American Chemical Society awarded the Priestley Medal to George B. Kistiakowsky “to recognize distinguished services to chemistry,” the Society’s most prestigious award. Kistiakowsky’s areas of expertise included thermodynamics, spectroscopy, photochemistry, and chemical kinetics. His research on divalent carbon (CH₂) and the stabilization energy of benzene had a large impact on organic and theoretical chemistry.

During the Eisenhower Administration, Kistiakowsky served on the President’s Science Advisory Committee for several years, becoming the science adviser to the President in 1959. He wrote a book about his experience, “A Scientist at the White House: The Private Diary of President Eisenhower’s Special Assistant for Science and Technology.”