2008 Welch Award in Chemistry Recipient

Dr.  Alexander Rich
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"For outstanding contributions to the understanding of the chemical
and biochemical mechanisms in maintaining a living cell."

Dr. Rich earned both his bachelor's degree (magna cum laude) and medical degree (cum laude) from Harvard University.  He did his postdoctoral work at Caltech with Linus Pauling, who is considered one of the most influential chemists of the 20th century for his work in the fields of quantum chemistry, the structure of matter and molecular biology.

He joined MIT in 1958, where he continued his trailblazing research.  He was the first to carry out DNA-RNA hybridization, which opened the door to understanding how information can be transferred from DNA to RNA; he discovered left-handed DNA, which has proven to be extremely important to biological systems and immunology in the ensuing years; he was responsible for first discovering DNA's presence in organelles, an effort which resulted in the development of an innovative research approach widely adopted by others, and gave rise to a large field of research in organelle DNA.  He also has provided many insights on the mechanism of protein synthesis.

Dr. Rich has more than 600 publications to his name.  Among his other accomplishments and credentials, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Institute of Medicine, and a foreign member of both the French Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Among his several awards, President Bill Clinton recognized his outstanding scientific achievements with the National Medal of Science in 1995, and Dr. Rich also won the 2001 William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement.

Dr. Rich will receive the 2008 Welch Award in October at a banquet hosted by The Welch Foundation in Houston.  At that time he will be presented with the Welch Award gold medallion and the $300,000 prize.