CLEVELAND—Georg Bohm will be awarded the 2016 Charles Goodyear Medal by the ACS Rubber Division, the highest honor given by the technical association.
The announcement was made during the Rubber Division's International Elastomer Conference and Rubber Expo in Cleveland. Winners also were named for five other awards, all to be given at the group's spring 2016 technical meeting in San Antonio.
Hohm holds 66 patents and has authored 37 publications. The Rubber Division said it gives the Charles Goodyear Medal to honor an “individual for outstanding invention, innovation or development which resulted in significant change or contribution to the rubber industry.”
The group said Bohm, among his many contributions to the industry, singled out two—one covers coextrusion of tire components and the other involves radiation crosslinking of rubber. As part of the latter, he established a radiation research laboratory to explore the effects of ionizing radiation in natural and synthetic rubbers. It was run as a joint venture between Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. and Radiation Dynamics Inc.
The winners of the Rubber Division's other awards include:
• Dane Parker, retired senior research and development associate for Goodyear, will be honored with the Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award for someone who “has exhibited exceptional technical competency by making significant and repeated contributions to rubber science and technology.
• Maurizio Galimberti, a professor at the Polytechnic of Milan's Department of Chemistry, has won the George Stafford Whitby Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research.
• Frank Borzenski, retired as manager/director of product development and laboratories at HF Mixing Group/Farrel-Pomini, will be given the Fernley H. Banbury Award for contributions in developing production equipment, control systems and instrumentation.
• Frank S. Bates, a regents professor at the University of Minnesota, will receive the Chemistry of Thermoplastic Elastomers Award.
• Amit Das, a scientist, professor and consultant in the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research, will be honored with the Sparks-Thomas Award to recognize outstanding contributions and innovations by younger scientists, technologists and engineers.