Stephen L. Buchwald wins 2026 Willard Gibbs Award
This prestigious honor has been awarded annually for over 100 years by the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society.
Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry Stephen L. Buchwald has been named the winner of the 2026 Willard Gibbs Award by the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society.
Considered one of the most prestigious honors in chemistry, the Willard Gibbs Award was founded in 1910 by William A. Converse. It was named for Professor Josiah Willard Gibbs, whose formulation of the Phase Rule founded a new science; Gibbs is considered by many to be the only American-born scientist whose discoveries are as fundamental as those of Newton and Galileo.
The Willard Gibbs Award has been given annually for over a century “to recognize eminent chemists who, through years of application and devotion, have brought to the world developments that enable everyone to live more comfortably and to understand this world better.” Previous MIT Chemistry faculty honorees include John C. Sheehan Professor Sylvia T. Ceyer (2007) and Novartis Professor Laura L. Kiessling (2016).
Buchwald was chosen in honor of his work in the development of the Buchwald-Hartwig coupling reaction, for fundamental advances in the discovery of metal-catalyzed coupling reactions, and for diverse applications of metal-catalyzed coupling reactions in basic research, drug discovery, agrochemicals, materials science, and biology. He will present an award lecture at the 115th Willard Gibbs Award Celebration this May.
Research in the Buchwald Group combines elements of organic synthesis, physical organic chemistry, and organometallic chemistry to devise catalytic processes of use in solving problems of fundamental importance.
