Chemist group awards UC Irvine professor

A UC Irvine engineering and chemistry professor has won a prestigious

award for Southland chemists.

Peter M. Rentzepis received the Tolman Medal for outstanding

contributions to chemistry. His ultra-fast laser techniques for research

revolutionized many areas of science. He has also developed methods for

three-dimensional optical storage, including a “memory cube” that has the

potential to store as much as a trillion bits of information in a volume

slightly smaller than a sugar cube.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Rentzepis has received

more than 25 major awards and prizes, written four books and more than

400 research publications. He holds 62 patents on his discoveries.The

Tolman Medal is named in honor of Richard Tolman, a pioneering Caltech

chemist who made key discoveries on electrons.