2016-10-04 Tue

Georg Wittig's 1979 Nobel Prize for Chemistry gold medal will be up for sale by Heritage Auctions on 19th October. Four other medals awarded to him is also offered at the sale like the Paul Karrer gold medal awarded to Wittig in 1973; the Otto Hahn Prize gold medal for Chemistry and Physics in 1967; the Roger Adams gold medal in 1973; and the Adolf von Baeyer gold medal in 1953. The medals would come in their original presentation cases.

He discovered the “Wittig reaction that regulates the regrouping of atoms in a molecule. Swedish sculptor and engraver Erik Lindberg designed the 204 grams 65-millimeter medal struck in 22-karat gold. The obverse features a portrait of Nobel with his birth and death dates in Roman numerals. The reverse features female emblems of Science revealing Nature. Wittig's name and the year of the award are also inscribed.

The Karrer medal was awarded by Universitat Zürich to Georg Wittig. Karrer was a co-recipient in 1937 of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Otto Hahn Prize for Chemistry and Physics is considered to be the highest German award for scientific achievements. Hahn was a German chemist was known for his revolutionary discoveries in radioactivity and radiochemistry who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944 for the discovery and the radiochemical proof of nuclear fission. Rogers Adams medal is given by the American Chemical Society. Adolf von Baeyer medal was designed by German sculptor Hermann Hahn. Von Baeyer was a German chemist who synthesized indigo, developed a nomenclature for cyclic compounds, and was the 1905 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.