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Society makes Nobel winners Millennium Fellows

June 30, 2000

Eight of the most eminent chemists in the UK will become the Millennium Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry at a special ceremony in Cambridge on Monday 3 July 2000. Lord Sainsbury of Turville, Minister for Science, will join this celebration of the work of these extraordinary scientists, whose achievements include determining the structure of the blood component haemoglobin, laying the foundations for the Human Genome Project and discovering a new form of carbon. All of the Millennium Fellows have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Science Minister Lord Sainsbury said:
"We are here to celebrate the outstanding contribution by UK chemists to scientific discoveries - discoveries that encompass all the branches of chemistry. Discoveries that have had, and continue to have a major impact on science world-wide.

In Britain we have some of the finest scientists in the world. Those here today have been and will continue to be inspirational to future generations of scientists some of whom may go on to win Nobel Prizes themselves. I am particularly pleased that the recognition of these Millennium Fellows by the Royal Society of Chemistry coincides with the publication of the first drafts of the Human Genome Project. This is a great landmark in biology, and one in which Fred Sanger, our double Nobel Prize winner has been instrumental."

The Millennium Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry are:
 Professor Archer Martin CBE FRS HonFRSC, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1952. He pioneered the modern systems of chromatography, allowing scientists to separate individual substances from complex mixtures.

 Dr Frederick Sanger OM CH CBE FRS, one of the very few people to win two Nobel Prizes - one in 1958 for determining the chemical make-up of insulin and the second in 1980 for discovering how to sequence DNA. His work underpins much of modern biology and the Human Genome Project.
 Dr Max Perutz OM CH CBE FRS, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962. He discovered the structure of haemoglobin, telling us exactly how oxygen moves around the body and revealing much about how the body works.

 Lord George Porter Kt OM FRS HonFRSC, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1967. He developed a technique, known as flash photolysis, which uses intense flashes of light to investigate and measure the rates of chemical reactions. It has been fundamental in revealing how and why chemical molecules react together.

 Sir John Cornforth AC CBE FRS CChem FRSC, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1975. His work was the first to demonstrate the importance of stereochemistry in biological reactions, revealing much about the principles governing metabolism and body chemistry.

 Sir Aaron Klug OM HonFRSC, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1982. His use of the technique of X-ray crystallography has allowed us for the first time to see the structure of many complex and important biological molecules.

 Professor Sir Harold Kroto FRS CChem FRSC, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1996. He discovered a new form of carbon, where 60 atoms of carbon are joined to make a sphere in the same pattern as that found on a soccer ball.

 Professor Sir John Walker FRS HonFRSC, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1997. His work showed how the body creates the chemical molecule ATP - which provides the energy that all living things need to survive.

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)