On Apr. 2, 2008, the American Chemical Society awarded the Priestley Medal to Gabor A. Somorjai “to recognize distinguished services to chemistry,” the Society’s most prestigious award.

Somorjai, a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, was recognized for his contributions to surface science and catalysis for more than 40 years.  In that time, he trained and mentored more than 300 Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows, published more than 1,000 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has written three textbooks.