The award honors those who have made outstanding contributions in chemistry and have accomplished a major portion of their work while living in Southern California. Olah will receive the medal and a citation on March 20.
Olah, 64, is the discoverer of superacids, which are billions of times more potent than "strong" acids such as sulfuric acid. He and colleagues have shown that in extremely strong acidic solutions, normally unreactive molecules like hydrocarbons can become reactive (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 90:2726, 1968; 91:2929, 1969; 91:3261, 1969). Such reactions could be used to convert simple hydrocarbons such as methane into synthetic fuels--thus potentially leading to a reduced reliance on fossil fuels as an energy source.
Olah laments that despite the significance of this research, the media tend to neglect work in hydrocarbon chemistry done by him and others, reporting primarily on investigations that have biomedical applications.
"In the '70s," ...
