The Anselme Payen Award

Awards and Fellowships

The Anselme Payen Award is international, and all scientists conducting research in the field of cellulose are eligible for nomination. This award includes a bronze medal and an honorarium of $3,000, given by the ACS Cellulose and Renewable Materials (CELL) Division to honor and encourage outstanding professional contributions to the science and chemical technology of cellulose and its allied products.

Selection of the awardee is based on the application package. These are individually ranked by a panel of nine judges who are appointed by the current Chair-Elect and are unknown to each other. Three judges rotate off the panel each year. The identity of all members is known only to the Chair of the awards committee who compiles the results. After the awardee accepts, the Chair of the Awards Committee announces the winner at the next Spring ACS meeting. The awardee for that year is honored at the following Spring ACS meeting at a Symposium and Banquet. The award bears the year the winner was announced. It is presented the following year to allow time for organization of the Symposium and Banquet.

Nomination Form

A Nomination Form has been developed as a guide and should not restrict the scope of the nomination.

The complete nomination package for this Award should consist of: 

  • A Nomination Form (maximum 5 pages)
  • 2 support letters

compiled into one pdf and submit via email to the division’s awards chair by July 1.

History of the Award

This award is named for the distinguished French scientist who discovered cellulose, and pioneered in the chemistry of both cellulose and lignin. He was the first to attempt separation of wood into its component parts. After treating different woods with nitric acid he obtained a fibrous substance common to all which he also found in cotton and other plants. His analysis revealed the chemical formula of the substance to be C6H10O5. He reported the discovery and the first results of this classic work in 1838 in Comptes Rendus. The name “cellulose” was coined and introduced into the scientific literature in 1839.

Anselme Payen Award

Past Winners

Year Awardee Institution
2023 Lars Berglund KTH
2022 Christoph Weder Adolphe Merkle Institute and University of Fribourg
2021 Yoshiharu Nishiyama CNRS and Grenoble Alpes University
2020 Run-Cang Sun Dalian Polytechnic University
2019 Ann-Christine Albertsson KTH
2018 Orlando Rojas Aalto University
2017 Junji Sugiyama Kyoto University
2016 Kevin Edgar Virginia Tech
2015 Akira Isogai University of Tokyo
2014 Thomas Rosenau University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
2013 John Ralph University of Wisconsin-Madison
2012 Hans-Peter Fink Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research
2011 Lina Zhang Wuhan University
2010 J. Thomas Heinze Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
2009 Alfred D. French USDA, ARS, Southern Regional Research Center
2008 Fumiaki Nakatsubo Kyoto University
2007 Fumitaka Horii Kyoto University
2006 Charles Buchanan Eastman Chemical Company
2005 Peter Zugenmaier Clausthal University of Technology
2004 Dieter Klemm Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena
2003 Deborah P. Delmer The Rockefeller Foundation
2002 R. St. John Manley McGill University
2001 Liisa Viikari VTT Biotechnology
2000 Wolfgang G. Glasser Virginia Tech
1999 John Blackwell Case Western Reserve University
1998 Rajai H. Atalla USDA Forest Products Laboratory
1997 Joseph L. McCarthy University of Washington
1996 S. Haig Zeronian University of California, Davis
1995 Josef Gratzl North Carolina State University
1994 Geoffrey N. Richards University of Montana
1993 Derek Gray Paprican, McGill University
1992 Josef Gierer Royal Institute of Technology
1991 Henri Chanzy CERMAV, Grenoble
1990 Junzo Nakano University of Tokyo
1989 Anatole Sarko SUNY College of Env. Sci. & Forestry
1988 Bengt Ranby Royal Institute of Technology
1987 Takayoshi Higuchi Kyoto University
1986 R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. The University of Texas at Austin
1985 Orlando A. Battista The O. A. Battista Research Institute
1984 Jett C. Arthur, Jr. USDA, ARS, Southern Regional Research Center
1983 Reginald D. Preston Leeds University
1982 Erich Adler Chalmers University of Technology
1981 Stanley P. Rowland USDA, ARS, Southern Reg. Res. Center
1980 Olof Samuelson Chalmers University of Technology
1979 Kyosti V. Sarkanen University of Washington
1978 W. Howard Rapson University of Toronto
1977 W. Kyle Ward, Jr. The Institute of Paper Chemistry
1976 Robert H. Marchessault University of Montreal
1975 J. K. N. Jones Queens University
1974 V. T. Stannett North Carolina State University
1973 D. A. I. Goring McGill University
1972 Conrad Schuerch SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
1971 Tore E. Timell SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
1970 Wilson A. Reeves USDA, ARS, Southern Regional Research Center
1969 Stanley G. Mason McGill University
1968 Alfred J. Stamm USDA Forest Products Lab
1967 Roy L. Whistler Purdue University
1966 Wayne A. Sisson American Viscose
1965 Carl Johan Malm Eastman Kodak
1964 Harold Morton Spurlin Hercules
1963 Clifford Burroughs Purves McGill University
1962 Louis Elsburg Wise The Institute of Paper Chemistry

Recent Winner

Contributing Companies

*Contributed twice

Societe de Chimie Biologique and the membership of the Division have contributed funds for a mold for the medal.

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Inspiring bio-based solutions for a sustainable future.
Leading and supporting innovation in cellulose & renewable materials by providing a forum
for our members to excel in the chemical sciences and technology.

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