In 1959, the Priestley Medal was awarded to H. I. Schlesinger by the American Chemical Society “to recognize distinguished services to chemistry,” the Society’s most prestigious award.

B−(N−)H compounds are old compounds. They were discovered in the first half of the 20th century thanks to the ingenious high-vacuum low-temperature distillation. Distillation was later successfully used by Schlesinger who also made a great contribution in the field of boron chemistry in the 1930s-1950s.