12-15-97
Contact:
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917
ISU ALUM HOFFMAN RECEIVES NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE DEC.
16
AMES, Iowa -- Darleane Hoffman, an Iowa State alumnus, will receive the National Medal of Science from President Clinton at a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. (EST), Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Hoffman, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, invited Iowa State University President Martin Jischke to attend the ceremony. The ceremony will be held in room 450 of the Old Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Hoffman is one of 14 people to receive either the National Medal of Science or the National Medal of Technology, among the nation's most prestigious science and technology awards. Others receiving awards include James Watson, discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA; Roy Dolby, who invented technologies in sound recording and reproduction; and Robert Ledley for his contributions to biomedical computing and engineering, including development of the whole body CT scanner.
A chemist, Hoffman is being honored for her pioneering study of transuranic elements. She is the discoverer of plutonium 244 and the only person to discover significant quantities of a new chemical element in the past 60 years. She has made numerous contributions to the understanding of radioactive decay, and is an internationally recognized leader in nuclear chemistry, particularly in the topics of nuclear fission, properties of actinide elements and reactions of heavy ions.
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Revised 12/16/97