#  Frank H. Westheimer Prize 

 



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Frank H. Westheimer, Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, at Harvard University and one of the key figures in 20th century chemistry, was born in Baltimore on Jan. 15, 1912. He attended Dartmouth College and graduated summa cum laude in 1932. Westheimer entered the graduate program at Harvard in 1932 to study under James B. Conant.

After receiving his doctorate at Harvard in 1935, Westheimer went to Columbia University as a National Research Fellow in the field of physical-organic chemistry. He accepted a faculty position at the University of Chicago in 1936, and in 1937 married Jeanne Friedmann. During World War II, he was a supervisor at the National Explosives Research Laboratory. After the war, he resumed his post at the University of Chicago, where he remained until moving to Harvard in 1953. At Harvard, he was the Morris Loeb Professor and an admired teacher of both undergraduate and graduate students. He served as a science adviser to President Lyndon Johnson, and in 1966 he chaired the Committee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences that set a course of action for federal support of the chemical sciences.

Westheimer was the recipient of numerous honors and honorary degrees, including the U.S. National Medal of Science, the U.S. National Academy Award in Chemical Sciences, the Robert A. Welch Foundation Award in Chemistry, and many awards of the American Chemical Society. He served as a science adviser to President Lyndon Johnson, and in 1966 he chaired an enormously influential Committee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences that set a course of action for federal support of the chemical sciences. In 2002 Harvard University established the Frank H. Westheimer Medal for scientific excellence in his honor.

**Prize Lecturers**

2002 - 2003 Daniel E. Koshland, Jr.  
2003 - 2004 Albert Eschenmoser  
2004 - 2005 Thomas A. Steitz  
2005 – 2006 David Eisenberg  
2006 - 2007 Lubert Stryer  
2007 – 2008 Elizabeth Blackburn  
2008 – 2009 Alanna Schepartz  
2009 – 2010 Peter B. Dervan  
2010 – 2011 Roger D. Kornberg  
2011 – 2012 Paul Schimmel  
2012 – 2013 Ronald Breslow  
2013 - 2014 Kevan Shokat  
2014 - 2015 Jennifer Doudna  
2015 - 2016  Jonathan Weissman  
2016 – 2017 Peter Schultz  
2017 - 2018 Harry Gray  
2018 - 2019 Jack Szostak  
2019 - 2020  Jacqueline K. Barton  
2022 - 2023  Squire Booker  
2024 - 2025  Bryan Roth  
2025 - 2026  Laura Kiessling  
2016 – 2017 Peter Schultz  
2017 - 2018 Harry Gray  
2018 - 2019 Jack Szostak  
2019 - 2020  Jacqueline K. Barton  
2022 - 2023  Squire Booker  
2024 - 2025  Bryan Roth  
2025 - 2026  Laura Kiessling