On Mar. 24, 2003, The Priestley Medal was awarded to Edwin J. Vandenberg by the American Chemical Society “to recognize distinguished services to chemistry.” Vandenberg best known for his work at Hercules from the 1950s through 1970s that included the independent discovery of isotactic polypropylene and the development of Ziegler-type catalysts.

The Vandenberg catalyst is named after him. This catalyst is an aluminoxane, prepared from an alkyl-aluminium and water, used as a catalyst in the manufacture of polyether elastomers.