The Award of MedalsSource: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and PhysicalSciences, Vol. 417, No. 1852 (May 9, 1988), pp. 1-5Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2398260 .

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Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 417, 1-5 (1988) Printed in Great Britain

The award of medals by the President, Sir George Porter,

at the Anniversary Meeting, 30 November 1987

The COPLEY MEDAL is awarded to DR R. HILL, F.R.S., in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the understanding of the nature and mechanism of the main pathway of electron transport in photosynthesis.

Almost fifty years ago Hill made the first important discovery that allowed detailed chemical analysis of the pathways of photosynthesis, when he demon- strated the light-driven oxidation of water by isolated chloroplasts, and this made it possible to study water oxidation separately from carbon-dioxide reduction. This was the starting point in the elucidation of the electron-transfer pathway in photosynthesis, and in 1951 Hill, with R. Scarisbrick, uncovered the first com- ponent in the chain when they discovered cytochrome and established its key properties. Subsequently, with H. E. Davenport, Hill discovered the second com- ponent of the chain, shown later by others to be ferredoxin. With F. Bendall he formulated the 'Z-scheme' to describe the mechanism of electron transfer in photosynthesis in chloroplasts, which showed the relation between the photo- chemically driven elements and conventional electron-transfer chains found in other biological systems. This proposal brought great clarity to the field and set the scene for further detailed elucidation of the mechanisms.

A RoYAL MEDAL is awarded to SIR FRANcIs GRAHAM-SMITH, F.R.S., in recognition of his outstanding contributions to radio and optical astronomy.

In 1948 Graham-Smith, with Martin Ryle, discovered a radio source in Cassiopeia; his accurate measurements of the location of this source and of one in Cygnus found in 1951 led Baade and Minkowski to deduce that Cygnus was a remote radio galaxy with unique properties. This discovery marked a turning point in extragalactic radio-astronomy in which Graham-Smith has played a key role.

He has concentrated particularly on the study of pulsars, radio sources emitting highly regular, rapid pulses of radio waves, and has made important contributions .to our understanding of their emission mechanisms. He was Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory from 1974 to 1981, and was responsible for pressing forward key facilities for British astronomers; the establishment of the Northern Hemisphere Observatory, La Palma, the transfer there of the Isaac Newton telescope,, and the planning of the Herschel telescope. Sir Francis has been Astronomer Royal since 1982.

A ROYAL MEDAL is awarded to SIR ERIC DENTON, C.B.E., F.R.S., in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the physiology of marine animals, to marine biology generally, and his leadership of U.K. marine science.

Denton's contributions are many and diverse. In the area of light, Denton has identified new visual pigments in marine animals, in particular transforming our knowledge of the nature, distribution and purpose of the silvery layers found in

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2 Award of medals by Sir George Porter, P.R.S.

the eyes, the luminescent organs and the external surfaces of fishes. He also studied the properties of the lights produced by oceanic animals. His work on buoyancy in marine life uncovered major physiological adaptations, and included gelatinous animals (such as jellyfish), sharks and cephalopods. His detailed and extensive work on the buoyancy mechanisms in squids has given a firm base on which hypotheses on the lives of fossil nautiloids, ammonoids and belemnoids are based. He has also studied the swim bladder system of clupeoid fishes (herrings, anchovies, etc.), and showed a close coupling and functional relation with the ear and lateral line, enabling them to determine the distance and direction of sound sources.

A ROYAL MEDAL is awarded to PROFESSOR G. V. R. BORN, F.R.S., in recognition of his major contributions to the physiology, pathology and pharmacology of platelets and of his widely used methods for studying platelet function in haemo- stasis and thrombosis.

Born devised a photometric method for quantifying platelet aggregation. With this he discovered essential components of the underlying mechanism as well as the first aggregation inhibitors. In due course this has led to large-scale clinical trials of such agents for the prevention of coronary thrombosis. The Born aggregometer continues to be used worldwide in pharmacological, clinical and epidemiological investigations. With novel usage of micro-iontophoresis, Born demonstrated the exponential growth of platelet thrombi and its relation to blood flow. He devised in vivo techniques for determining the contributions of endo- genous mediators to primary haemostasis, provided evidence for the thrombogenic effeclfof lipaimia, and demonstrated that the atherogenic accumulation of low- density lipoproteins is limited by acidic glycoproteins on endothelium. In addition, Born introduced methods for quantifying leucocyte migration, which provided the first estimate of their intravascular adhesion force; he also discovered excep- tionally high densities of sialic acids on endothelial surfaces, and he is now working on the idea that-this may be important for blood flow in the microcirculation.

The DAVY MEDAL is awarded to PROFESSOR A. J. JEFFREYS, F.R.S., in recognition of his contributions to the chemistry of human DNA, in particular the discovery and exploitation of hypervariable satellites in the human genome.

Jeffreys is renowned for a range of work in relation to DNA organization and evolution. His group's discovery and exploitation of hypervariable satellites in the human genome has the most immediate and far-reaching applications, not least in forensic science. Jeffreys and his group have shown that human DNA contains sections of great variety. However, as the nature of the genetic material is deter- mined by genetic reproduction and by transfer from parents to children, these sections will be identical in all DNA samples from an individual and will have common factors with parents, although being totally different from materials from unrelated individuals.

This can be used in a chemical test to identify or distinguish samples, such as blood, from any person, as accurately as fingerprints, and to establish family relationships. These chemical techniques have already been used as the basis of court judgements and are a major new tool in forensic science.

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Award of medals by Sir George Porter, P.R.S. 3

The BUCHANAN MEDAL is awarded to PROFESSOR G. K. RADDA, F.R.S., in recog- nition of his development of high-resolution NMR spectoscopy for the study of cellular energetics and cellular enzymology, and for medical diagnosis, and of the insights and advances thereby gained.

Radda and his colleagues have explored the application of high-resolution NMR

spectra to study the internal biochemical structure of intact animal tissue since this was shown to be possible in 1974. He has devised numerous new and imagin- ative techniques and probes to enable living systems to be studied in the spectrometer and has shown that NMR presents a successful method of exploring cellular activity, with clear implications for medical diagnosis. NMR, being non- invasive and harmless, has great benefits in clinical medicine. Radda is now studying whole animals and human limbs and has been involved in the design of an NMR scanner suitable for studying the whole human body, which will be used *both for research and to explore further the use of the techniques in medical diagnosis.

The HUGHES MEDAL is awarded to PROFESSOR M. PEPPER, F.R.S., for his many important experimental investigations into the fundamental properties of semi- conductors especially in low-dimensional systems, where he has elucidated some of their unusual properties such as electron localization and the quantum Hall effects. Pepper and his group are recognized as world leaders in the study of the .fundamental physics of silicon and in the applications of this understanding of the physical effects to new solid-state electronic devices.

He provided experimental evidence for the concept of 'Anderson localization' and its consequences, and was the first to demonstrate the effect in a two- dimensional system. He has since clarified the influence of disorder and of inter- action between electrons.

The LEVEREULME MEDAL is awarded to PROFESSOR G. W. GRAY, F.R.S., in recog- nition of his many contributions to the technologically important field of liquid crystals.

Gray began his work in the early 1950s as a synthetic chemist by studying the relation between molecular structure and liquid-crystal behaviour. He was there- fore able to respond to the need for room-temperature liquid-crystal materials when, in the late 1960s, the technological potential for such systems became recognized. The cyanobiphenyls and related terphenyls discovered by him in 1972 provided the first stable room-temperature liquid crystal materials permitting the construction of the long-lifetime electrooptical displays now extensively used in industrial and consumer equipment. These materials have both provided the basis -for today's commercially burgeoning liquid-crystal display industry and exten- gsively furthered basic scientific understanding of ordered fluids by providing compounds for reliable studies of their antisotropic properties. Against this back- ground, his contributions in other areas sometimes go unrecorded, notably the rationalization- of the classification of smectic types and the structural elucidation of several smectic polymorphs. Currently his work centres around liquid-crystal polymers and low-molar-mass, chiral smectic C materials; the latter are of great relevance to the television industry.

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4 Award of medals by Sir George Porter, P.R.S.

The MULLARD MEDAL is awarded to DR M. A. FORD, Technical Director of Perkin- Elmer Ltd, in recognition of his major contributions over the past thirty years to the development and design of new analytical products in the field of infrared spectroscopy, and in particular for the successful series of ratio-recording infrared spectrometers which have achieved substantial sales worldwide.

Since Dr Ford joined Perkin-Elmer in the late 1950s he has led the development of new analytical products. In particular, during the past decade he has been responsible for the development of a series of infrared ratio-recording instruments, which, compared with the earlier optical-null spectrometers, produced a greatly improved sensitivity and accuracy. The latest models in this series feature a number of 'state of the art' developments including a T.G.S. detector in place of the standard thermocouple and an integral thermal printer-plotter to replace the pen and ink chart.

Total sales of Perkin-Elmer ratio-recording spectrometers have now exceeded ?50 M, of which over ?40 M have been export sales.

The Esso ENERGY AWARD was made to MR D. H. DYKINS, MR D. M. McRAE and MR J. A. JuPP of British Aerospace's Civil Aircraft Division, for their work on wing design technology for civil aircraft which has led to increased aerodynamic efficiency and consequent savings in fuel.

The main technological achievement of the British Aerospace team over the past twenty years, has been to develop efficient air-flow patterns over the entire wing surface of the aircraft with mixed subsonic and supersonic flow regimes, aimed at reducing drag and thus fuel used. Their work has resulted in high- technology wings for the BAe 125 executive jet aircraft, the BAe 146 shorthaul jet aircraft, the European Airbus wide-body projects A300 and A3 10 and provides the foundation for the latest Airbus project A320 and the proposed A330 and A340 projects. The fuel savings attributable to the wing design on the existing A300 and A3 10 series aircraft are estimated to be between 8 % and 15 %, amounting to a saving of over 2000 million gallons (ca. 8.1 x 109 1) of fuel over a typical lifetime for those aircraft already in service.

The award was made at a special lecture given by Mr Dykins in the Society on 28 October 1987.

The MICHAEL FARADAY AWARD was made to SIR PETER MEDAWAR in recognition of his unique ability to communicate to non-scientists through the brilliant clarity of his lectures and witty, highly literate writing.

Sir Peter combined the attributes of an excellent scientist and a superb promotor of the public understanding of science in the manner for which the award was instituted. As a scientist, the work he did on acquired tolerance in animals formed the basis of modern immunology and resulted in his receiving the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (shared with Sir Macfarlane Burnet) in 1960. Since 1969, and despite several strokes, he continued to carry out research and to write a number of books. Where conventional papers or essays may have misconstrued or even falsified the actual conducting of science, these honestly and clearly describe the- methodology of science, which, more than content, is vital for public com-

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Award of medals by Sir George Porter, P.R.S. 5

munication; they have had a profound effect on the way we think about the scientific process.

We all learned with sorrow of Sir Peter's death on 20 October. The medal will be presented to Lady Medawar at a later date.

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