USC Professors Awarded $1 Million Prize from Israel

Georgia_Girl
Thu, 17 Oct 2013 00:18:13 +0000

Drs. Olah and Prakash have been awarded the inaugural $1 million prize, the Samson Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels for Transportation. Dr. Prakash is Professor of Chemistry in the Dornsife School of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He is Director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and an award winning pioneer in the fields of hydrocarbon, mechanistic and synthetic organic chemistry.

Dr. George Olah, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, is a Nobel Laureate. He describes his work on developing an anthropogenic carbon cycle–a way to recycle carbon dioxide into fuel–as the most important work of his career, eclipsing even his work on superacids and his observations of carboncations, which earned him a Nobel Prize.

The award is given in recognition of their work on the methanol economy. Methanol has the potential to be generated by recycling atmospheric carbon dioxide–setting up the possibility of a carbon-neutral fuel source.

Israel’s Prime Minister will present the award to the USC scientists in Tel Aviv in November 2013.

These are highlights from an article by Robert Perkins on 10/16/13.

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