Linus Pauling Medal Goes to UCSB Chemistry Professor

Thomas C. Bruice, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been awarded the 2008 Linus Pauling Medal.

The Linus Pauling Medal is given annually by the Oregon, Portland and Puget Sound Sections of the American Chemical Society.

The award recognizes outstanding accomplishments in chemistry in the spirit of and in honor of Linus Pauling, a native of the Pacific Northwest.

"This is a great honor to Tom and to UCSB where he has been so successful for so long," said Alec M. Wodtke, chair of UCSB's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Bruice was educated at the University of Southern California, where he received his B.S. and Ph.D. Next he had a postdoctoral appointment at UCLA. He served on the faculty at Yale University from 1955-1958, Johns Hopkins University from1958-1960, and Cornell University from 1960-1964. In 1964, he joined the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is currently a research professor of chemistry.

Bruice's work has been recognized as an essential force bridging the sciences of chemistry and biology. His work has established the chemical foundations for myriad biological processes. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has been the recipient of a number of major awards, including the Repligen Medal, Alfred Bader Award, an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, and a James Flack Norris Award. He also received the national award in chemical sciences from the National Academy of Sciences, an award that many consider to be the highest in the country for the field of chemistry.

The journal Bioorganic Chemistry dedicated an issue to Bruice on the occasion of his 75th birthday. The dedication states, "Tom is an extraordinary scientist. His productivity and creativity are legendary; his curiosity and intense interest in science continue unabated."

Share this article

FacebookTwitterShare