University of Glasgow Professor of Chemistry Lee Cronin has won a £70,000 Philip Leverhulme Prize for his internationally recognised work in nano-chemistry and molecular engineering.

The prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prizes are awarded annually to outstanding scholars, normally under the age of 36, who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their particular field of study, recognised at an international level, and whose future contributions are held to be of correspondingly high promise.

Professor Cronin plans to use the prize to part-finance a student and for study visits to nanotechnology groups in Japan and the USA.

Professor Cronin’s work focuses on engineering molecular architectures using self assembly at the sub-nano/nano scale, a scale that is 80,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

At this scale it is impossible to design objects atom by atom. However, by using directed self assembly (when the object builds itself), scientists can design new materials atom by atom using a chemical mould which transfers the shape of the ‘designed’ mould onto some atomic building blocks.

Combining this approach with the engineering approach used to fabricate microprocessors promises ultimately to allow the design of molecular computers and machines.

Further information:

Martin Shannon, 
Media Relations Officer
Tel: 0141 330 8593

Lee Cronin,
Professor of Chemistry
Tel: 0141 330 6650

Note to editors:

The Philip Leverhulme Prizes commemorate the contribution to the work of the Trust made by Philip Leverhulme, the Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of the Founder. 

First published: 26 November 2007

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