UW Chemist Wins American Physical Society Prize

F. Fleming Crim, chair of the chemistry department, has won an award from the American Physical Society for his studies of chemical reactions at the molecular level.

Crim will receive the 1998 Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy, along with a $5,000 award, at the APS annual meeting March 17 in Los Angeles. The award recognizes Crim’s new techniques in spectroscopy – the study of the interaction of light with matter – that hold the promise of controlling chemical reactions with light.

Crim, J.E. Willard professor of chemistry, has been on the UW–Madison faculty since 1977. His research uses lasers to discover and control the course of chemical reactions. He was elected a fellow of APS in 1989 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995.

APS is a worldwide organization of more than 41,000 physicists dedicated to advancing knowledge of physics.