Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellow Professor Barner-Kowollik has been named the winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Centenary Prize in recognition of brilliance in research and innovation.
Professor Barner-Kowollik won the prize, which includes £5,000 ($9300) and a medal, for the development and photophysical understanding of precision macromolecular photochemistry, and for excellence in communication.
This year’s winners join a prestigious list of past winners in the RSC’s prize portfolio, 60 of whom have gone on to win Nobel Prizes for their work, including 2022 Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi and 2019 Nobel laureate John B Goodenough.
“I feel extremely honoured and humbled. Seeing the list of previous recipients – all giants of chemistry – is a firm encouragement to continue to strive to apply chemistry for the societal good, evidence-based decision making and the education of the next generation of chemists from all walks of life,” Professor Barner-Kowollik said.
“I also hope that I can showcase Australian chemistry and encourage even deeper scientific exchanges between the UK/Ireland and Australia.
“In an increasingly fractured geopolitical landscape, it is absolutely critical to reinforce the message that science knows no borders and nationalities, as we are one community that is solely dedicated to scientific fact finding, understanding the world around us, and bettering the living conditions on our planet.”
Professor Christopher Barner-Kowollik, a principal investigator within QUT’s Centre for Materials Science, said he was fascinated by light and its interactions with matter.
Light enables the key biochemical process that sustains us all: photosynthesis. In the laboratory, using light to trigger chemical reactions has mostly been based on broadly emitting light sources that emit many colours of light (i.e. wavelengths) at the same time. This has made the triggering process very undefined: like hitting an object with a sledge hammer to shape it.
Professor Barner-Kowollik and his team have transformed photochemistry using defined monochromatic wavelengths to induce chemical transformations.
He and his team employed photochemical ‘action plot analysis’ to understand photochemical bond forming processes with never-before-seen precision, by wavelength-by-wavelength probing of reaction outcomes.
This precision enables chemists to design reaction systems, including those in the realm of polymer chemistry, that respond selectively to specific wavelengths. It’s now possible, for example, to generate different material properties from a specific photo-resin by simply changing the colour of light it is irradiated with.
Professor Barner-Kowollik said the team hoped that their action plot analysis technique would be used by photochemists all over the world as the tuneable laser systems that underpin it had become very economical and simple to operate.
Last year Professor Barner-Kowollik was the recipient of Australia’s highest prize for chemistry when the Australian Academy of Science awarded him the David Craig Medal. He also received the 2022 European Polymer Federation Prize, Europe’s highest honour in polymer science.
Dr Helen Pain, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “The chemical sciences are at the forefront of tackling a range of challenges facing our world. From fundamental chemistry to cutting-edge innovations, the work that chemical scientists do has an important role to play in building our future.
“The RSC’s prizes programme enables us to reflect on and celebrate the incredible individuals and teams whose brilliance enriches our knowledge, advances our understanding, and brings new ideas and technologies that benefit society as a whole. We’re very proud to recognise the contributions of our winners today.”
The Royal Society of Chemistry’s prizes have recognised excellence in the chemical sciences for more than 150 years. In 2019, the organisation announced the biggest overhaul of this portfolio in its history, designed to better reflect modern scientific work and culture.
The Research and Innovation Prizes celebrate brilliant individuals across industry and academia. They include prizes for those at different career stages in general chemistry and for those working in specific fields, as well as interdisciplinary prizes and prizes for those in specific roles.
