Brief history of the Henri Moissan International Prize and

Election procedure

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The prize was created after the Centennial 1986 Paris Symposium to commemorate Moissan's isolation of elemental fluorine in 1886, and to stimulate research in the fields of fluorine chemistry.

During twenty years, the prize has been managed by the "Institution du Prix Moissan", founded by Paul Hagenmuller and Pierre Plurien both Chairmen of the 1986 Symposium, with Roland Bougon as administrator. During this period the prize was attributed seven times, that is every three years at the opportunity of the International Symposia on Fluorine Chemistry (ISFC). From 2009 the "Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie" has taken in charge the management of the prize, in order to give a perennial structure to this prestigious award.

The prize winner is elected by an International Selection Board of about seventy personalities (+ scientific committee members) which have been chosen by the scientific committee of the prize. The composition of this international college is reconsidered before each Prize. The final choice of the Board members should be guided by both the prestige of each fluorine chemist proposed and the need to establish a balance with respect to nationality and scientific fields. The members of the Board are asked to vote as individuals.

In the first ballot of the election, each member of the Selection Committee proposes a maximum of five candidates. The Scientific Committee will select the nominees for the Prize, as those candidates who have received the higher number of votes with a significant gap with respect to the following ones. This list (four names in 2000, six in 2003 and four in 2006) is then sent to all members of the Selection Board for a second ballot, in which a maximum of two names is selected from this list. It is obvious that those members who will be selected as nominees will not take part to the second ballot. The winner is the candidate who receives the largest number of suffrages, but the prize may be shared if two candidates get an equal number of votes, as it was the case for the first prize in 1988. Nominations can be based on the candidate's entire career work or a recent outstanding contribution to any field of fluorine chemistry.

The Prize, which is presented every three years during the International Symposium on Fluorine Chemistry (ISFC), carries a diploma and a monetary award of 15 000 €.

The previous awardees have been:

- 1988: Neil Bartlett (University of California, Berkeley, USA) and George Cady (University of Washington, Seattle, USA);

- 1991: Harry J. Emeléus (University of Cambridge, UK);

- 1994: Robert N. Haszeldine (UMIST, University of   Manchester, UK);

- 1997: Paul Hagenmuller (University of Bordeaux I, France);

- 2000: Karl Christe (USC, Los Angeles and Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA);

- 2003: Richard Chambers (University of Durham, UK);

- 2006: Darryl D. DesMarteau (Clemson University, SC, USA);

- 2009: Herbert Roesky (Göttingen University, Germany);

- 2012: Alain Tressaud (CNRS Bordeaux, France);

-2015: Surva Prakash (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA);

-2018: David O'hagan (University of Saint Andrews, Saint Andrews, UK);

-2021: Véronique Gouverneur (University of Oxford, Oxford, UK);

The Award ceremonies took place at the 12th (Santa Cruz, California), 13th (Bochum, Germany), 14th (Yokohama, Japan), 15th (Vancouver, Canada), 16th (Durham, UK) and 17th (Shanghai, China, postponed from 2003 to 2005), 18th (Bremen, Germany), 19th (2009, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA), 20th (2012, Kyoto, Japan), 21th (2015, Côme, Italy), 22th (2018, Oxflord, UK), 23th (2023, Québec, Canada) ISFCs, respectively. The next Award ceremony will occur on July 2012, during the 20th ISFC at Kyoto, Japan. The laureate will be also invited to deliver a presentation on the occasion of a symposium organized by the Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie in Paris.

Scientific Committee of the Henri Moissan International Prize

President            Philippe Gœbel       President, Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie

Scientific Administrator   Thierry Billard     CNRS, Lyon

Members

Bruno Améduri              ICGM, Montpellier

Philippe Bonnet             Arkema, Pierre Bénite

Olivier Buisine               Solvay, Séoul, Corée du Sud

Karl Christe                   USC, Los Angeles (USA), Winner 2000 Moissan Prize

Alain Demourgues         ICMCB, Bordeaux

Darryl DesMarteau        Clemson (USA), Winner 2006 Moissan Prize

Henri Dugert                  Secrétaire Général, Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie

Marie-Pierre Krafft         ICS, Strasbourg

Frédéric Leroux             LIMA, Strasbourg

Patrick Maestro             Solvay, Bruxelles, Membre de l’Académie des technologies

Vincent Maisonneuve    IMMM, Le Mans

David O’Hagan             St Andrews University, UK

Surya Prakash              Research Institute, USC, Los Angeles, USA, Winner 2015 Moissan Prize

Herbert Roesky            Göttingen (All.), Membre étranger de l’Académie des Sciences, Winner 2009 Moissan Prize

Alain Tressaud            Bordeaux, ICMCB, President of European Academy of Sciences (Brussels), Winner 2012 Moissan Prize

Honorary Presidents

Paul Hagenmuller     Former co-President "Institution du Prix Moissan" (1986-2005)

Pierre Plurien            Former co-Président "Institution du Prix Moissan" (1986-2005)

The General Secretary of the « Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie », H. Dugert, attends the meetings of the Scientific Committee

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Link towards " Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie ":

http://actions.maisondelachimie.com/prix_henri_moissan.html