Prof. Susan Gibson of King’s College in London, a synthetic chemist whose work focuses on the application of organometallic reagents, is the first winner of the annual Rosalind Franklin Award which aims to promote women in science. As the recipient of the award, Professor Gibson receives 30,000, a medal, and will also be giving a lecture at the Royal Society in the autumn. Professor Gibson plans to use part of her prize money to set up a series of lectureships that will bring successful women synthetic chemists from around the world to the UK and so to help inspire young women researchers.

The UK Department of Trade and Industry and the Royal Society gives out the Award. It commemorates Rosalind Franklin, whose work at King’s contributed to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA half a century ago. The Rosalind Franklin Award was established following a report by Baroness Susan Greenfield in 2002 which said that the British scientific establishment was guilty of institutionalised sexism.

Professor Gibson’s statement: “I am very pleased to have won the first ever Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award. I just wish there were more medals for my colleagues – there are many good female scientists out there who deserve this kind of recognition. I also hope that this award will encourage more women to consider working in science, engineering or technology. It is an extremely exciting and rewarding job, and one in which a woman can have a successful career and, if they wish, combine with having a family as well.” She is a mother of two and heads a group of around 40 chemists who are searching for more efficient and environmentally sound chemical reactions, and their application in medicine.