Major Awards & Honors

American Academy of Arts and Science

Paul Alivisatos*
Paul Bartlett*
Alexis T. Bell
Robert G. Bergman
Carolyn Bertozzi
Christopher J. Chang
Morton Denn*
Jennifer Doudna
Charles B. Harris†
David Chandler
Graham Fleming
Jean M. J. Fréchet*
Martin Head-Gordon
Clayton H. Heathcock*
Darleane Hoffman*
Enrique Iglesia
Jay D. Keasling
Judith P. Klinman
Yuan T. Lee*
Steven Leone
Jeffrey R. Long
Michael Marletta
William Miller*
C. Bradley Moore
Daniel Neumark
Alexander Pines
John Prausnitz*
Kenneth Raymond
Richmond Sarpong
Richard Saykally*
David Shirley*
Gabor Somorjai
Andrew Streitweiser*
T. Don Tilley
Ignacio Tincoco, Jr.
Birgitta Whaley
Omar Yaghi
Peidong Yang

Breakthrough Prize

2015 - Jennifer Doudna

Distinguished Teaching Awards

Over the years, many of our faculty members have been honored with the Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award for their outstanding teaching abilities. 

1961 - Bruce Mahan†
1978 - David Lyon†
1986 - Donald Hanson†
1986 - Alexander Pines*
1988 - Michael Williams*
1991 - Angelica Stacy* 
1992 - Richard J. Saykally*
1994 - Clayton J. Radke
2001 - Carolyn Bertozzi
2003 - Jeffrey Reimer
2009 - Matthew Francis
2011 - Phillip Geissler

Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award

1970 Mitchel Shen
1973 Bill Miller
1975 Wayne Hubbell‡ 
1976 Alex Pines
1984 David Soane‡ 
1978 Peter Vollhardt
1987 Jeffrey Reimer
1988 Angelica Stacy
1991 Dan Neumark
1992 Joel Hawkins‡ 
1994 Arup Chakraborty‡ 
1999 Carolyn Berozzi
2000 Jeffrey Long
2004 Peidong Yang
2005 Kristie Boering
2008 Haw Yang
2009 Richmond Sarpong
2010 Rachel Segalman‡ 
2011 Ting Xu
2013 Michelle Chang
2016 Naomi Ginsberg
2020 Evan Miller
2021 Markita Landry

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Foreign Member

2021 - Peidong Yang

Garvan-Olin Medal

1949 - Agnes Fay Morgan
1967 - Marjorie J. Vold (Ph.D. '36, Chem)
1990 - Darleane C. Hoffman*
1991 - Cynthia Friend (Ph.D. '81, Chem)
1995 - Angelica Stacy*
1996 - Geraldine L. Richmond (Ph.D. '80, Chem)
2005 - Frances H. Arnold (Ph.D. '85, ChemE)
2020 - Caroline Chick Jarrold (Ph.D. '94, Chem)
2021 - Carol Burns (Ph.D. '87, Chem)

German National Academy of Sciences

2008 - Carolyn Bertozzi
2011 - William Miller*
2022 - Omar Yaghi

Japan Prize

 2013 - Jean M.J. Fréchet*
 2017 - Jennifer Doudna

MacArthur Fellowship

1995 - Michael Marletta
1999 - Carolyn Bertozzi
2015 - Peidong Yang

National Academy of Engineering

Alexis T. Bell
Harvey Blanch*
Douglas S. Clark
Morton Denn*
Jean M. J. Fréchet*
Enrique Iglesia
Jay D. Keasling
C. Judson King*
John S. Newman*
John M. Prausnitz*
Clayton Radke
Charles Shank*

National Academy of Inventors

2013 - Michael Marletta
2015 - Jean M.J. Fréchet*
2014 - Richard Mathies
2014 - Jennifer Doudna
2014 - Jay Keasling
2016 - Enrique Iglesia
2016 - Paul Alivisatos*
2021 - David Schaffer

National Academy of Medicine

1999 - Michael Marletta 
2010 - Jennifer A. Doudna 
2011 - Carolyn Bertozzi
2018 - John Kuriyan

National Academy of Sciences

Paul Alivisatos*
Alexis T. Bell
Robert G. Bergman
Carolyn Bertozzi
Kristie Boering
Carlos J. Bustamante
David Chandler† 
Robert Connick*
Jennifer Doudna
Graham R. Fleming
Jean M.J. Fréchet*
Martin Head-Gordon
Charles B. Harris†
John Hartwig
Clayton H. Heathcock*
Sung-Hou Kim
Judith P. Klinman*
John Kuriyan
Yuan T. Lee*
Stephen R. Leone
Jeffrey R. Long
Michael Marletta
William H. Miller*
Bradley Moore*
Daniel M. Neumark
Alexander Pines
John M. Prausnitz*
Kenneth N. Raymond
Richard J. Saykally
Charles Shank*
Alanna Schepartz
David Shirley*
Gabor A. Somorjai
Andrew Streitwieser*
T. Don Tilley
Ignacio Tinoco, Jr.†
F. Dean Toste
Peidong Yang
Omar Yaghi

National Medal of Science

1974 -- Kenneth S. Pitzer†
1989 -- Melvin Calvin
1983 -- George C. Pimentel†
1986 -- Yuan T. Lee*
1991 -- Glenn T. Seaborg†
1997 -- Darleane Hoffman*
1997 -- Harold Johnston†
2001 -- Gabor Somorjai
2003 -- John Prausnitz*
2012 -- Judith P. Klinman*
2014 -- Paul Alivisatos*

Nobel Tradition

College faculty and alumni have been awarded eighteen Nobel Prizes in Chemistry.

Faculty

1949 - William F. Giauque (B.S.'20, Ph.D '22)
1951 - Glenn T. Seaborg (Ph.D.'37)
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1986 - Yuan T. Lee (Ph.D.'65)
1986 - Dudley Herschbach
2020 - Jennifer Doudna
2021 - David MacMillan (currently at Princeton)
2022 - Carolyn Bertozzi (Ph.D. '93; currently at Stanford)

Alumni

1934 - Harold C. Urey (Ph.D.'23)
1960 - Willard F. Libby (B.S.'31, Ph.D.'33)
1973 - Geoffrey Wilkinson (Postdoc '50)
1983 - Henry Taube (B.S.'35, Ph.D.'40)
1989 - Thomas Cech (Ph.D.'75)
1995 - Mario Molina (Ph.D.'72)
1996 - Robert F. Curl, Jr. (Ph.D.'57)
1999 - Ahmed Zewail (Postdoc.'74)
2002 - Kurt Wüthrich (Postdoc '67)
2018 - Frances Arnold (Ph.D. '85)

Nobelprize.org

Noyce Prize

The Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching is given annually to a faculty member in the physical sciences who has demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching, including curriculum development.

1987 - Donald Noyce, Chemistry
1988 - Howard Shugart, Physics
1989 - George Pimentel, Chemistry
1990 - Richard Packard, Physics
1991 - Alexei Filippenko, Astronomy
1992 - Alexander Pines, Chemistry
1993 - Clayton Radke, Chem Engineering
1994 - David Cudaback, Astronomy
1995 - James Sethian, Mathematics
1996 - Angelica Stacy, Chemistry
1997 - Ole Hald, Mathematics
1998 - Jeffrey Reimer, Chemical Engineering
1999 - George Brimhall, Geology & Geophysics
2000 - L. Craig Evans, Mathematics
2001 - Carolyn Bertozzi, Chemistry
2002 - Carl Heiles, Astronomy
2003 - Robert Jacobsen, Physics
2004 - Marina Ratner, Mathematics
2005 - Enrique Iglesia, Chemical Engineering
2006 - Matthew Francis, Chemistry
2007 - James Graham, Astronomy
2008 - Richard Allen, Earth & Planetary Science
2009 - Richard A. Muller, Physics
2010 - Eliot Quataert, Astronomy
2011 - Walter Alvarez, Earth & Planetary Science
2012 - Susan Muller, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
2013 - Christopher Chang, Chemistry
2014 - Denis Auroux, Mathematics
2015 - Naomi Ginsberg, Chemistry
2016 - Richmond Sarpong, Chemistry
2017 - Michael Manga, Earth & Planetary Science
2018 - Phillip Geissler, Chemistry
2019 - Eugene Chiang, Astronomy & Earth and Planetary Science
2020 - Nick Swanson-Hysell, Earth & Planetary Science
2021 - Evan Miller, Chemistry
2022 - David Limmer, Chemistry
2023 - Karthik Shekhar, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Priestley Medal

1962 - Joel H. Hildebrand†
1969 - Kenneth S. Pitzer†
1978 - Melvin Calvin†
1979 - Glenn T. Seaborg†
1989 - George C. Pimentel†
2000 - Darleane Hoffman*
2008 - Gabor A. Somorjai*
2021 - Paul Alivisatos*

The Royal Society

Each year, the Fellows of the Royal Society elect up to 52 new Fellows and up to 10 new Foreign Members. The Foreign Members of the Royal Society are made up of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists. Foreign Members and Fellows are elected for life through a peer review process on the basis of excellence in science.

Foreign Members
2002 - Alex Pines
2011 - David Chandler
2015 - John Kuriyan
2015 - William Miller
2016 - Jennifer Doudna

Fellow
1973 - Neil Bartlett
1994 - Graham Fleming
2005 - Richard Mathies
2018 - Polly Arnold 
2019 - Martin Head-Gordon

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry are recognized for substantial contributions made to the chemical science community.

Honorary Fellow
2014 - Gabor Somorjai

The Russian Academy of Sciences

Foreign Member

2019 - Alexis Bell

Welch Award in Chemistry

1976 - Neil Bartlett
1984 - Kenneth S. Pitzer
1986 - George C. Pimentel
2007 - William H. Miller*
2014 - Robert G. Bergman
2019 - Paul Alivisatos*

Wolf Prize in Chemistry and Medicine

1982 - George C. Pimentel†
1991 - Alexander Pines*
1994 - Peter G. Schultz
1998 - Gabor A. Somorjai*
2012 - Paul Alivisatos*
2017 - Robert G. Bergman*
2018 - Omar Yaghi
2019 - John Hartwig
2020 - Jennifer Doudna

KEY

* Emeritus professor
‡ No longer teaching at UC Berkeley
† Deceased