Amsterdam, 21 June, 2010 - The Editors of the leading international journal Chemical Physics Letters are pleased to announce that the third Ahmed Zewail Prize in Molecular Sciences has been awarded to Professor William H. Miller from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, for his outstanding contributions to the theory of chemical reactions. The prize consists of a monetary award of $20,000 and will be presented during the 2011 Spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, in Anaheim, CA, USA.
Professor Miller's research has dealt with essentially all aspects of molecular collision theory and chemical reaction dynamics. Most recently his efforts have focused on developing a practical way of adding quantum effects to classical molecular dynamics simulations of chemical processes. Everyone involved in the detailed interpretation of experiments on chemical reaction dynamics have been influenced by his innovative theories.
William H. Miller received a B.S. in Chemistry from Georgia Tech (1963) and a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Harvard (1967). He joined the chemistry department of the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969 and has been Professor since 1974, serving as Department Chairman from 1989 to 1993 and becoming the Kenneth S. Pitzer Distinguished Professor in 1999. Professor Miller is a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences (1985), the National Academy of Sciences (1987), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993). His awards include the Annual Prize of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences (1974), the E. O. Lawrence Memorial Award (1985), the Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics (1990), the American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry (1994), the Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry (1996), the Ira Remsen Award (1997), the Spiers Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (1998), the Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry (2003), the Welch Award in Chemistry (2007), and the Hershbach Award in Molecular Dynamics (2007).
Nobel Laureate Professor Ahmed Zewail, in whose name the prize is honoured, remarked, "Bill has made fundamental contributions to the field of chemical dynamics. In his work, one can see the elegance of approach and the creative sparks, which were certainly evident in his seminal semiclassical description of reactivity."
Dr. Karel Nederveen, Publishing Director Chemistry at Elsevier, commented, "I am delighted with the choice of Professor Miller as the third Ahmed Zewail Prize winner. I thank both the nominators and the 11 leading scientists in the Voting Committee, who helped the Editors in making such an exceptional choice from a field of close to 40, very strong nominations."
