Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 11, 2005|Volume 34, Number 11

Researcher wins Plyler Prize for
his work on the structure of water

For his work on the structure of water, Mark A. Johnson, professor of physical chemistry, has been awarded the 2006 Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy sponsored by the George E. Crouch Foundation of the American Physical Society (APS).

The prize, which will be awarded at the APS meeting in Baltimore in March, recognizes and encourages notable contributions to the field of molecular spectroscopy. Johnson will present a talk on his work and receive a certificate along with an honorarium.

The citation reads: "For the applications of spectroscopic methods towards the understanding of solvation on the microscopic scale, especially the solvation of protons and hydroxide anions by water."

While water is considered the fluid of life, it has not always been clear to scientists why that is the case. Studies published by Johnson and his colleagues this past year focused on how protons and electrons dissolve in or are held by water molecules. The work was cited among the top 10 areas of discovery in 2004 by the journal Science.

Johnson began studying water on the small scale, with as few as 10 molecules frozen in a tiny crystal just big enough to see how water works from the bottom up. His group in now studying how acids dissociate upon contact with water.

Johnson joined the Yale faculty in 1985. He was previously named a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar and a fellow of the APS.

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