FULLERENES AND FRIENDS

Professor Fred Wudl is one of the pioneers of organic conducting materials. The footprint left by Prof. Wudl in organic electronics will continue to shape this discipline for many years. His creativity in designing new molecules enabled a number of major milestone developments in the field, such as: organic metals and superconductors, organic ferromagnets, soluble conjugated polymers and conjugated polyelectrolytes, low band-gap polymers, and bulk heterojunction solar cells. As one of the most cited chemists, Prof. Wudl has paid uncharacteristically little attention to the recognition of his work. Yet it has led to truly international respect and many awards. To name a few distinctions, Fred Wudl was a recipient of the Seaborg Medal from the University of California, Los Angeles; the Wheland Medal from the University of Chicago; the Spiers Medal and the Stephanie L. Kwolek Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry; the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, the Chemistry of Materials Award and the Tolman Medal from the American Chemical Society; and Dhc honorary degrees from the University of Trieste (Italy) and Complutense University of Madrid (Spain).