The NWO Spinoza Prize is the highest Dutch award in science. It is awarded for outstanding, groundbreaking and inspiring research to internationally renowned scientists. The winners each will receive 2.5 million EUR to spend on research of their choice.
The 2013 NWO Spinoza Prize was awarded on 10 June in The Hague, the Netherlands, to Mikhail Katsnelson, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Piek Vossen, professor of Computational Lexicology at the VU University Amsterdam, and to Bert Weckhuysen, professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis at Utrecht University, all the Netherlands.
Professor Bert Weckhuysen received his master degree in chemical and agricultural engineering from Leuven University, Belgium. After obtaining his Ph.D. from the same university in 1995, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor I. E. Wachs at the chemical engineering department of Lehigh University, USA, and with Professor J. H. Lunsford at the chemistry department of Texas A&M University, USA. From 1997–2000, he was a research fellow of the Belgian National Science Foundation working at Leuven University.
Since 2000, Weckhuysen has been a full professor of inorganic chemistry and catalysis at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. In 2011, he received the Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis from the North American Catalysis Society. He is one of the chairmen of the Editorial Board of ChemCatChem.
Weckhuysen’s research focuses on the development of structure-activity relationships and expert systems in the field of heterogeneous catalysis and materials science with special emphasis on the development and use of advanced in situ characterization techniques.
- Mechanistic Studies on Chabazite-Type Methanol-to-Olefin Catalysts: Insights from Time-Resolved UV/Vis Microspectroscopy Combined with Theoretical Simulations,
Veronique Van Speybroeck, Karen Hemelsoet, Kristof De Wispelaere, Qingyun Qian, Jeroen Van der Mynsbrugge, Bart De Sterck, Bert M. Weckhuysen, Michel Waroquier
ChemCatChem 2013, 5(1), 173–184,
DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200580 - 3D Nanoscale Chemical Imaging of the Distribution of Aluminum Coordination Environments in Zeolites with Soft X-Ray Microscopy,
Luis R. Aramburo, Yijin Liu, Tolek Tyliszczak, Frank M. F. de Groot, Joy C. Andrews, Bert M. Weckhuysen,
ChemPhysChem 2013, 14(3), 496–499.
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201201015 - Hard X-ray Nanotomography of Catalytic Solids at Work,
Ines D. Gonzalez-Jimenez, Korneel Cats, Thomas Davidian, Matthijs Ruitenbeek, Florian Meirer, Yijin Liu, Johanna Nelson, Joy C. Andrews, Piero Pianetta, Frank M. F. de Groot, Bert M. Weckhuysen
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 51(48), 11986–11990.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201204930
Also of interest:
- CatchBio — Speaking With Consortium Partners,
ChemViews magazine 2012.
DOI: 10.1002/chemv.201200025
B. Weckhuysen, E. Bouwnan, E. de Jong, consortium partners in CatchBio, talk about their experiences, their expectations, why CatchBio is so unique - Catalysis Award for Bert Weckhuysen,
ChemViews magazine 2012.
Professor B. Weckhuysen, the Netherlands, has received the International Catalysis Award for his work on heterogeneous catalysts
