White House Honors Top Scientists And Inventors

President Barack Obama announced the latest slate of National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology recipients on Sept. 17. The awards are the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists, engineers, and innovators.

Of the nine scientists named as science medalists, five are chemists or work in a chemically related area. They are Berni J. Alder, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health; Joanna Fowler, senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory; JoAnne Stubbe, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and J. Craig Venter, founder, chairman, and president of the J. Craig Venter Institute.

A chemist is also among the four researchers and one company being honored for technology and innovation. She is Esther Sans Takeuchi, professor at the University at Buffalo, SUNY.

The medalists will receive their awards at a White House ceremony on Oct. 7.