40 The Israel Chemist and Chemical Engineer Issue 8 · November 2021 · Kislev 5782 Report The 2020 ICS Prize for the Green Chemical Industry Veridis Environment Ltd. received the prize for applying advanced technologies in recycling municipal and industrial wastes to produce fuels, fertilizers, raw materials, and renewable energy. Adv. Eran Sapir, General Manager of the Environmental Services Division, represented the company in the ceremony. Gideon Silberman, a member of the ICS Executive Board, joined Keinan in awarding the prize. The Veridis Group manages waste, water, and energy, thus contributing to the sustainable development of communities and industries. In the last three decades, their waste management division has made remarkable environmental accomplishments as a world leader in the recycling and waste management industry. The 2020 ICS Gold Medal Prof. Robert Benny Gerber of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem received the Gold Medal for his fundamental contributions to the structure and dynamics of polyatomic molecular systems and deciphering mechanisms of atmospheric reactions. Prof. Gerber responded: “I am enormously excited and grateful for this great honor. First, I would like to thank the Israel chemical society and President Ehud Keinan for selecting me. I am very excited about it, and I am grateful to the committee which decided to award me this great honor. I want to make two comments: first, a dominant fraction of my achievements and recognition belongs to the many brilliant young people who joined me. It was my privilege to supervise these students and postdocs who did the exciting work. I had nearly a hundred students and postdocs, and about thirty of them hold faculty positions in Israel, the United States, and various European and Asian countries. Several of them are now dominant scientific leaders in major fields worldwide. If you ask me what my most important life achievement has been, the raising of these wonderfully creative, stimulating students now making an extraordinary impact on the world scenery. I am very grateful to so many of these people who deserved the credit, and two of them are here with us now. My second comment is about the leadership of the Israel Chemical Society. I am highly impressed by the tremendous success of the ICS under the presidency of Ehud Keinan over more than a decade. His leadership is dynamic and integrating essentially all aspects of our community, ranging from scientific research superstars to high school students. I am pretty familiar with distinguished chemistry societies, such as the American Chemical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry, which awarded me various prizes. I should say this: The ICS is one of the most successful chemical societies in terms of momentum and impact at present. I should congratulate the Society and Ehud Keinan. Thank you and thank the ICS for giving a lot of weight to the prize. I am proud to be honored by an outstandingly successful chemical society. Thank you.” Prof. Doron Aurbach of Bar-Ilan University received the Gold Medal for his breakthrough contributions to nonaqueous electrochemistry, developing novel analytical tools, and inventing new rechargeable batteries and electrochemical processes for water treatment. Prof. Aurbach responded: “First of all, I wish to pay respect to the host institution. We respect the Open University, which offers academic education to many students, providing academic degrees for people who have difficulty achieving the more common route in the other universities. I was privileged to mentor excellent graduate students who came from the Open University. I thank the Open University President, Professor Mimi Ajzenstadt, for making higher education accessible to everyone in this country. I also wish to thank the Israel Chemical Society. Ehud Keinan, I risk embarrassing you a bit. Still, I must say that I admire your leadership and the way you lead the ICS for many years, faithfully, diligently, and significantly impacting all sectors. You encourage students, young scientists, and established scientists while maintaining your scientific research and publications. So, as a proud ICS member, I take the stage to thank you personally. I wish to make two personal comments. Rabbi Akiva used to tell his students, referring to his wife: “Yours and mine are all hers.” My wife is here with me today. She has been with me all the way, fully supporting my entire career, so everything is hers. I take the opportunity to thank her for so many years of accompaniment. I had to work hard, and she was always at my side, offering her help and support. Thank you, my dear wife. Prof. Shmaryahu Hoz, my doctoral supervisor, is also here, and I am so happy with his presence. I owe him a great deal. From him, I obtained the scientific basis. We had beautiful years together, and we remained friends in heart and soul. Thank you, Shmaryahu, for your support, friendship, and the fact that we are still very close. Even our labs are close to one another. And I thank you for being a role model scientist, a Professor Emeritus who keeps coming daily to the campus. When I also have become Professor Emeritus, I watch people like you go and contribute from their experience. I think this behavior characterizes the ICS members, as formally retired professors never stop their research. The whole issue of
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