High accolade for René Schwarzenbach

March 28th, 2006

René P. Schwarzenbach, who has served at Eawag since 1977 (a member of the Directorate from 2000 to 2005) and is currently head of the Department of Environmental Sciences (UWIS) at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, has received the American Chemical Society’s Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science & Technology. Although René P. Schwarzenbach is often claimed to be the sole author of the standard textbook «Environmental Organic Chemistry», the work was in fact jointly written by Schwarzenbach and two co-authors (Philip M. Gschwend and Dieter M. Imboden). As the American Chemical Society’s tribute points out, Schwarzenbach is quick to acknowledge the importance of collaboration. The dynamic scientist received his award at the ACS meeting in Atlanta last week, where a symposium was organized in his honour. Schwarzenbach (60) was awarded the USD 5000 prize not only for his book but, more generally, in recognition of his innovative contributions to the field, which have also earned him membership of the exclusive circle of «Highly Cited Researchers».

Accolade in Chemical & Engineering News
Background information about the award