Warrington chemist wins prestigious prize

PROFESSOR Sharon Ashbrook, from Warrington, is the Royal Society of Chemistry Corday-Morgan Prize winner for 2015.
Ashbrook is a physical chemistry professor at the University of St Andrews. The award recognises the year’s most meritorious contributions to chemistry, this week. Her research focuses on the application of multinuclear solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques.
Professor Ashbrook is a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland, and Director of the Centre of Magnetic Resonance in St Andrews. She has previously won the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Harrison Prize in 2004 and Marlow Award in 2011.
She said: “I was surprised and delighted to hear I had been awarded this prize. This not only recognises our contributions to Physical Chemistry, but also acknowledges the hard work of my many talented students and co-workers.”
Dr Robert Parker, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry said: “It is always a pleasure to recognise excellence in the chemical sciences and I am pleased to acknowledge the illustrious achievements of our prize and award winners this year.
“Whether they work in research, industry or academia, our winners are the very best in their fields, and they can be very proud to follow in the footsteps of some of the most influential and important scientists around the world.
“In a complex and changing world, chemistry and the chemical sciences are vital in responding to some of humanity’s biggest challenges and our prize and award winners are at the forefront of meeting that challenge.”
Prize winners are evaluated for the originality and impact of their research, as well as the quality of the results which can be shown in publications, patents, or even software. The awards also recognise the importance of teamwork across the chemical sciences, and the abilities of individuals to develop successful collaborations.