Gibson-Fawcett Award

The Gibson-Fawcett Award is to recognise original and independent contributions to materials chemistry.

Rules and Criteria

• Run biennially
• Open to British, UK-based scientists only 
• Open to RSC members only
• Candidates must be in their early career, i.e. aged 40 or under.  The age specified is intended to guide nominators and selection panelists; appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken career breaks or followed different study paths.
• Candidates are permitted to nominate themselves
• Name and contact details of two independent referees required who will be contacted by the RSC - these may not include people at the same institution as the candidate or the candidate's post-doc or PhD supervisor
• One page CV for the candidate which should include their date of birth, website URL, summary of education and career, a list of 5 relevant publications, total numbers of publications and patents
• A one page supporting statement addressing the selection criteria
• Nominations open 1 September 2009 
• Nominations close 31 January 2010 
• Award winner will be chosen by the Materials Chemistry Division Awards Committee
• Award winner receives £2000, a medal and a certificate
  

About the award

The RSC Gibson-Fawcett Award (previously advertised as the Materials Chemistry Forum Award) was established in 2008.  The first winner of this award will be announced in June 2010.

This award recognises the contributions of two great chemists, Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett.

Fawcett graduated from Oxford University in 1929, going on to work for ICI Alkali Group's Research Department at Winnington to work on the 'oil from coal' project.

Gibson studied at University College London and was offered a job at the High Pressure Physics Laboratory in Leiden, Holland. Due to the small salary and his family's financial situation at the time, he could not accept. It was only upon receipt of a loan of £25 from the Benevolent Fund of the now Royal Society of Chemistry that Gibson was able to take this position. It was here that he met Anton Michels.

When Gibson returned to ICI in 1931 and Fawcett returned from a one year secondment to the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, they started work together on the effects of high pressures on chemical reactions using equipment designed by Michels. An experiment on 24 March 1933 produced a waxy solid which was later identified as polyethylene.

Shortly before the war, Gibson worked on producing tetra-ethyl lead required for aviation fuel anti-knock compounds. After the war he joined Associated Ethyl as a Chief Chemist, in 1950 he was appointed R&D Manager. Gibson was actively involved in the RSC throughout his life.

In 1938 Fawcett joined what is now BP and was associated with the invention and development of a butane isomerisation process to produce isobutane, an intermediate required in the alkylation process for aviation gasoline.