Trevor H. Levere to receive the 2009 Edelstein award
The Division of the History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (HIST) announces that Trevor H. Levere, University Professor Emeritus at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST) at the University of Toronto, has been selected to receive the 2009 Sidney M. Edelstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry.
Levere was chosen from a group of international nominees because of the
breadth and depth of his historical interests, his research productivity, his understanding of the intellectual and contextual aspects of the history of chemistry, and his promotion of the history of science in Canada.
Starting as an undergraduate chemistry major at Oxford in 1962, Levere changed his focus to the history of chemistry and published his B.A. thesis in Martinus van Marum in 1969. Continuing on at Oxford under A.C. Crombie, Levere received his D.Phil. in 1969 with a thesis that appeared in 1971 as Affinity and Matter: Elements of Chemical Philosophy 1800-1865, a work that still remains an essential reference for historians of chemistry. His historical productivity since then has been far-ranging, including not only the traditional eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history of European chemistry but also including the history of Canada, the history of exploration, and the history of scientific apparatus. His Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball, appearing in 2001, is often considered one of the best histories of chemistry in several decades, presenting the subject in a readable style to a large audience beyond the specialist. Levere's entire career was spent at the University of Toronto, where he has played a major role in building the IHPST into an organization of international importance.
The Edelstein Award consists of an engraved plaque and a check for $3500. It is supported by HIST and the Chemical Heritage Foundation of Philadelphia and will be presented to Levere at the fall national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, DC in August 2009. Additional information about the award can be found on the HIST website at http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/edelstein.php.
For further information contact:
Jim Bohning
Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University
610-866-7038
jjba@lehigh.edu