In 1991, the American Chemical Society awarded the Priestley Medal to Harry B. Gray ‘for his numerous contributions to chemistry,” the Society’s most prestigious award.

Gray, who is also director of Caltech’s new Beckman Institute, is one of the most dynamic chemists in the U.S. today. His research in inorganic photochemistry is helping to point the way toward artificial photosynthetic systems. And his pioneering bioinorganic studies, which focus on long range electron transfer in proteins, are elucidating the details of some of the most important reactions in biology.