News Release

NYU professor emeritus wins Royal Society award for work in semiconductor field

Grant and Award Announcement

New York University

Martin Pope, a professor emeritus in chemistry at New York University, has been awarded the Davy Medal by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for "his pioneering work in the field of molecular semiconductors," the society announced. The Davy Medal, established in 1877, is awarded annually for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry. Previous medalists include Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff, Pierre and Marie Curie, Henri le Chatelier, and Linus Pauling. The award includes a cash prize of £1000.

Pope is one of the founding fathers of the field of electronic properties of organic crystals. He is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in electroluminescence--the conversion of electric energy directly into visible light--and for inventing many of the experimental techniques used to study organic materials.

The Royal Society, the U.K.'s national academy of science, was founded in 1660 by scientists who included Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Christopher Wren.

Pope, who has published more than 100 papers, received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from City College in 1939 and his doctorate in physical chemistry from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1950.

Pope is also president of the board of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. Pope and Keats, a world famous children's book author and illustrator, were childhood friends.

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