The Faculty of Science congratulates Emeritus Professor Curt Wentrup for winning this year's Leighton Memorial Medal, awarded by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
The Leighton Memorial Medal is awarded in recognition of eminent services to chemistry in Australia in the broadest sense, including service to the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, research, technology, public service and national leadership. The Medal commemorates the distinguished career of Arthur Edgar Leighton, who carried out an enormous amount of work to secure the RACI’s Royal Charter, and who, as a chemical engineer, served Australia’s interests in both war and peace.
Emeritus Professor Curt Wentrup has been awarded for his contributions to Australian chemistry, particularly the capture and study reactive and unusual molecules. Curt has been a Professor and Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Queensland since 1985. As Editor of the Australian Journal of Chemistry and Fellow of the RACI, he has worked to foster a closer relationship between the journal and the RACI.
Notably, Curt founded and still coordinates a cornerstone of the Australian organic chemistry community: the Heron (Island) Conferences on Reactive Intermediates and Unusual Molecules, a highly acclaimed conference series, which regularly lures high profile international chemists to Australia.
Media: Dominic Jarvis, dominic.jarvis@uq.edu.au, +61 413 334 924.
