York Scientists Receive Prestigious Royal Society Awards

Two distinguished chemists from the University of York have been awarded prestigious Royal Society prizes for their contributions to science.

Professor Gideon Davies has been awarded the 2015 Davy Medal of the Royal Society for his work on the reaction chemistry of enzymes that modify carbohydrates (sugars) and Professor Lucy Carpenter receives the 2015 Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award in recognition of her work in atmospheric chemistry.

Professor Davies’ field – the world of carbohydrate chemistry – is a complex area of life science with relevance ranging from medical to industrial applications.  His work has unlocked pathways to new therapeutic agents and shown how enzymes can work in industrial and domestic environments, and his insights are central to how waste biomass may be converted to fuel.  He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Professor Carpenter’s research focuses on the atmosphere-ocean interactions which play a key role in regulating atmospheric composition and climate, in particular studying the complex chemical reactions in the atmosphere that lead to ozone depletion.  Her group conducts extensive field work and runs a global atmospheric observatory in the tropical east Atlantic.