Awards & Winners

George C. Pimentel

George Claude Pimentel was the inventor of the chemical laser. He also developed the modern technique of matrix isolation in low-temperature chemistry. In theoretical chemistry, he proposed the three-center four-electron bond which is now accepted as the best simple model of hypervalent molecules. An alumnus of University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley, Pimentel began teaching at Berkeley in 1949, where he remained until his death in 1989. Upon the progress of chemistry at UCLA, he remarked : “... the future of the department rests on young people.”

Awards by George C. Pimentel

Check all the awards nominated and won by George C. Pimentel.

1983


National Medal of Science for Chemistry
(For his varied and ingenious use of infrared spectroscopy to study chemical bonding and molecular dynamics, and for his discovery of the first chemically pumped laser, which has had strong scientific impact as well as practical applications.)

1982


Wolf Prize in Chemistry
(for development of matrix isolation spectroscopy and for the discovery of photodissociation lasers and chemical lasers.)