Robert Bergman Is 2008 Richards Medalist

Robert G. Bergman, Gerald E. K. Branch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, has been awarded the 2008 Theodore William Richards Medal by the ACS Northeastern Section.

The Richards Medal is awarded every two years for conspicuous achievement in chemistry. It is the section's oldest and most prestigious award, honoring the U.S.'s first chemistry Nobel Laureate.

Bergman spent the first part of his career investigating the mechanisms of organic reactions and the generation and study of unusually reactive molecules. In the mid-1970s, his research broadened to include organometallic chemistry. He has made contributions to the synthesis and chemistry of several types of organotransition-metal complexes and to improving our understanding of the mechanisms of their reactions. Most recently, he has been involved in the application of C-H activation reactions to problems in organic synthesis.

Bergman will be honored during an awards dinner hosted by the Northeastern Section at Harvard University on March 13.