Chemistry Award Goes to Berkeley Professor

The Wolf Foundation, Herzlia Pituach, Israel, has announced the winner of its 2017 Prize in Chemistry: Robert Bergmann of the department of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He is cited for the discovery of the activation of C-H bonds of hydrocarbons by soluble transition-metal complexes. In the early 1980s, Bergman found that an iridium complex catalyzes the activation of C-H bonds leading to an oxidative addition reaction.

Presented annually since 1978, the awards honor work in up to six categories of the sciences as well as the arts. They include a certificate and $100,000.

Besides the chemistry award, the Wolf Foundation bestowed 2017 prizes in mathematics, physics, medicine and the arts. For more details, go to The Wolf Foundation.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Jerusalem.