Highly acclaimed Rhodes University academic, Professor Tebello Nyokong, has been selected for the 2011 Distinguished Women in Chemistry award by the Royal Society of Chemistry – Europe’s largest organisation for advancing the chemical sciences – and the Pan Africa Chemistry Network.
Highly acclaimed Rhodes University academic, Professor Tebello Nyokong, has been selected for the 2011 Distinguished Women in Chemistry award by the Royal Society of Chemistry – Europe’s largest organisation for advancing the chemical sciences – and the Pan Africa Chemistry Network.
The award forms part of the PACN/RSC’s International Year of Chemistry celebrations – which marks the centenary anniversary of Marie Curie being awarded her Nobel prize for chemistry – and a central theme of the year has been to celebrate women’s contribution to science.
Prof Nyokong is the director of the Nanotechnology Innovation Centre at Rhodes and is globally respected for her pioneering work in medicinal chemistry and nanotechnology. She has won numerous awards, ranging from the Presidential Order of Mapungubwe bronze awarded by former President Thabo Mbeki, to being one of only five women in the world to win the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO award for women in science. The Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation (NRF) also awarded her the Research chair for Medicinal Chemistry and Nanotechnology.
While thrilled by the latest award from the PACN/RSC, Prof Nyokong insisted that none of the awards she has received to date are for her alone. She said they must also be seen as recognition of the work of her students and staff: “They must also feel glorified and acknowledged by these awards. It’s not me alone.” She believes that recognition of the African continent is also important.
“These are international awards and being able to show that, in Africa, good chemistry of international standing can also be done is very important. People tend to see Africa just in terms of violence.” She said she is also delighted that the award would be made in Africa.
Prof Nyokong will be honoured at a special ceremony during the PACN’s first Congress on Agricultural Productivity in Accra, Ghana, in November, where she has also been invited to speak at the conference. She said women were in short supply in the physical sciences worldwide, and awards such as this one would encourage more women to move into these fields.
