On Mar. 24, 2003, the American Chemical Society awarded the Priestley Medal to Edwin J. Vandenberg  “to recognize distinguished services to chemistry,” the Society’s most prestigious award.

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.