Following the recommendations of an international jury in July 2024, Armand Lattes, Professor Emeritus in the SMODD team, was awarded an honorary Franklin-Lavoisier prize by the Fondation Internationale de la Maison de la Chimie and the Science History Institute in Philadelphia.
The prize is awarded every two years for outstanding work in the field of the history and heritage of chemical science and technology. For the first time, an honorary Franklin Lavoisier Prize is awarded. It recognises Armand’s work on behalf of scientific heritage, particularly in chemistry.
The jury appreciated his contribution to the history of chemistry and, in particular, of the great chemists who worked in Toulouse and the South of France. In his many roles, notably as President of the Société Chimique de France, he has always been committed to supporting research and promoting the heritage of chemistry.
He is widely recognised, and has been awarded numerous prizes and honors, including the Grammatikakis-Neumann prize from the Académie des Sciences, the Grand Prix Le Bel from the Société Française de Chimie, the Copernicus medal from the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the van t’Hoff prize from the Chemical Society of the Netherlands.
He was President of the Société Chimique de France and the Société de Chimie industrielle. He is a member of the Académie nationale de pharmacie, the Académie européenne des sciences des arts et des lettres, and a corresponding member of the Spanish Academy of Sciences.
The silver medal bearing the effigy of Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier and Benjamin Franklin was presented to him at a ceremony on November 6, 2024 at the Maison de la Chimie in Paris.