First Latin American scientist will receive the Gmelin-Beilstein medal

The German Chemical Society (GDCh) will deliver the Gmelin-Beilstein medal to the Colombian chemist, Guillermo Restrepo Rubio, a recognition that will be first received by the Latin American continent, in addition to being considered one of the most important awards from the society.

The medal that William will receive on March 30 in Dresden, Germany, was established in recognition in 1954 in honor of Leopold Gmelin, who initiated the publication of the Manual of Inorganic Chemistry in 1817, and Friedrich Beilstein, who also initiated the Manual of Organic Chemistry in 1881.

The Latin American chemist was notified of the award through a letter signed by the president of the GDCh, Matthias Urmann, where he says: “We recognize his scientific experience in the area of ​​mathematical chemistry, philosophy and the history of chemistry. Your quantitative and computational methods are important additions to traditional approaches to the study of the history of chemistry and you have developed highly innovative approaches to understanding the history of chemistry.”

Likewise, Restrepo states from Germany, where he currently resides and also keeps working with other Colombian colleagues, alumni and researchers, that “it is nice to see that, no matter how adverse the conditions may be, science has no borders, nor disciplinary neither geographical, and that everyone with curiosity and without fear of learning is welcome.”

It is important to mention that Guillermo Restrepo was a beneficiary of the PhD programs of Colciencias (now MinCiencias in Colombia) and completed his doctorate at the University of Bayreuth (Germany). He taught for 13 years at the University of Pamplona (North of Santander) and is currently a researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Mathematics in Science (Leipzig – Germany).

K. Villarroel

Source: innovation