Graham R. Fleming, senior scientist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division, has won the Royal Chemistry Society’s Faraday Lectureship Prize 2016. The prize was awarded for experimental and theoretical achievements that have redefined the study and understanding of fundamental chemical and photobiological processes in liquids, solutions and proteins. Fleming, a leader in the development of multidimensional optical spectroscopy, currently investigates condensed phase dynamics and uses ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy to study such dynamics. A particular emphasis in his research is photosynthetic light harvesting and its regulation via nonphotochemical quenching.

The Faraday Prize, founded in 1867, commemorates Michael Faraday (1791-1867), an elected fellow and advocate of what was known then as the Chemical Society. Says Fleming, “The Faraday award has special significance for me because I did my Ph.D. work at the Royal Institution in London where Michael Faraday, perhaps the greatest experimental scientist ever, spent his entire career. I could see his epoch-changing discoveries in electromagnetism, and much else, every day in the small museum next to my lab.” To read full coverage of the announcement, go to the Berkeley College of Chemistry.