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Avelino Corma, distinguished researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), founder of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ) a joint research centre of the UPV and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)-, and Research Professor ad honorem at the CSIC, has been awarded the EuChemS Gold Medal EuChemS 2024 by EuChemS, the European Chemical Society.

This makes Corma the first Spanish Research Assistant to receive the internationally recognised biennial award, which to date has only been accepted by Bernard L. Feringa from the Netherlands (2018) -winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry-, Michele Parrinello from Italy (2020) -Dreyfus Prize 2017 and Benjamin Franklin Medal 2020- and Dame Carol Robinson (2022) -former President of the Royal Society of Chemistry and first Professor in the Chemistry Departments of Cambridge and Oxford Universities-.

Four decades of success and commitment

Born in Moncofa (Castellón) in 1951, Corma has spent almost 40 years researching heterogeneous catalysis in academia and collaboration with industry. He has worked on fundamental aspects of acid-base and redox catalysis to understand the nature of active sites and reaction mechanisms, on the basis of which he has developed catalysts that are now used commercially in numerous industrial processes.

A world-renowned and recognised expert in solid acid and bifunctional catalysts for energy chemistry and for making chemical processes more sustainable - especially in synthesising and applying zeolite catalysts - Corma has published over 1,400 research papers and invented over 200 patents. A graduate in Chemical Sciences from the Universitat de València, he obtained his Ph.D. in Madrid under the supervision of Professor Antonio Cortés. He completed a two-year post-doctoral period at Queen's University.

A member of numerous international circles, Corma has given numerous lectures around the world, such as the Director's Distinguished Lecture Series at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the 48th W. N. Lacey Lectureship in Chemical Engineering-Caltech in 2015, or the Karl-Ziegler-Lectureship at the Max Planck Society (2007), among many others.

Likewise, the high-level awards the Valencian Research Assistant has received are also difficult to enumerate. The European Inventor Award for Lifetime Achievement from the European Patent Office, the Blaise Pascal Medal for Chemistry from the European Academy of Sciences and the Prince of Asturias, ENI and Spiers Memorial prizes deserve to be highlighted.

Corma: "It is a great honour, which I believe brings with it the recognition of Spanish chemistry".

On learning of the award, Corma said that it was "a great honour to receive the Gold Medal of the European Chemical Society. I consider it not only as an award for myself but also as a recognition of Spanish chemistry and the extraordinary work being done in catalysis research at the ITQ and in our country for decades".

EuChemS

Founded in Prague on 3 July 1970 as the European Federation of Chemical Sciences (FECS) and reconstituted in 2006 as EuChemS, the European Chemical Society is a platform for scientific debate that aims to provide a single, objective European voice on key policy issues in chemistry and related fields.

EuChemS currently represents more than 130,000 chemists from European chemistry-related societies and organisations. Through this network of researchers, EuChemS organises several specialised scientific conferences and the biennial EuChemS Chemistry Conference, the European Congress of Chemical Sciences.

In turn, EuChemS promotes the role and image of the Sciences to the general public and policymakers through social media, newsletters and by organising lectures and workshops open to the community. By promoting chemistry and providing scientific and expert advice, EuChemS aims to contribute to solving the most significant challenges facing today's society.