FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Peter Pulay, Roger B. Bost Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded the 2003 Schroedinger Medal by the World Association of Theoretically Oriented Chemists (WATOC), which recognizes outstanding computational chemists in the world who have not previously been awarded this honor.

Among his fellow scientists, Pulay is considered one of the top five researchers in his field internationally. He has received numerous awards, including the highest honor in his field, the Medal of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences. Other awards include the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award and a creativity award from the National Science Foundation, given to only a handful of the most creative investigators. Locally, he has received the both the Haliburton Research Award and the Alumni Research Award since joining the University of Arkansas in 1982.

Before completing his doctorate in 1970 from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, Pulay had already written a paper that would permanently change the way scientists study atoms and molecules, the basic matter of the universe. His research would help solve one of the most urgent tasks in quantum chemistry — finding an accurate method for calculating the electronic structure, size and shape of large molecules.

The gradient method he outlined, published in The Journal of Molecular Physics, proved to be a pioneering advance in the effort to determine the geometry of large, biologically important molecules. From 1980 to 1997, Pulay’s contribution was cited by other scientists 3,303 times, earning the title of a "Citation Classic" from the Institute of Scientific Information in recognition of its importance to the entire scientific community.

Pulay’s research has paved the way for Nobel Prize winners, including John Pople, who won the Nobel Prize in 1998 for his calculation "of these derivatives based on earlier developments by Peter Pulay."

Other recipients of the Schroedinger Medal include Ernest Davidson of the University of Washington and winner of this year’s National Medal of Science, Bjorn Roos of Uppsala, Sweden, Ken Houk of UCLA and Nicholas Handy of Cambridge University. Pulay will receive the medal at the 7th Congress of the WATOC, in Cape Town, South Africa, in January 2005. The WATOC was founded in 1982 to encourage the development and application of theoretical methods.