Herman F. Mark 1994 Polymer Award

      Harry R. Allcock has been chosen as the recipient of the ACS
Polymer Chemistry Division's 1994 Herman F. Mark Award.  The
award, sponsored by Dow Chemical Co., will be presented to Allcock
at the Polymer Division's biennial symposium in November.  It
consists of a plaque, $2000, and travel expenses to the symposium.
The award is presented biennially to a person who shows evidence of
outstanding research accomplishments and contributions to the
advancement of polymer science through teaching, technical
leadership, and scientific writings.

      Harry Allcock is an Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry at the
Pennsylvania State University.  He is one of the leading experts in
the field of inorganic-organic polymers and materials derived from
them.  His early training was in organometallic and physical-organic
chemistry, with his B.Sc. (1953) and Ph.D. (1956) degrees received
from the University of London.  His interest in polymers and
materials developed during two postdoctoral appointments and five
years as a research scientist at the American Cyanamid Central
Research Laboratories.  In 1964 he carried out the critical
experiments that led to the synthesis of the first stable
polyphosphazenes.  These polymers have since proved to be the most
diverse inorganic-organic macromolecules yet known, with over 300
different polymers now prepared and characterized, some of which
have been developed commercially.

      Since 1966 he has led a team of coworkers in the Chemistry
Department at Penn State that has made many of the fundamental
discoveries in the design, synthesis, and structural characterization
of polyphosphazenes and related systems, and has been responsible
for extending the primary chemistry into areas as diverse as
biomedicine, energy storage, communications science, and novel
structural materials.  Concurrently, his research group has made
numerous fundamental advances in the field of small-molecule
inorganic ring systems, and has pioneered the use of these
compounds as models for the reactions and structures of high
polymers.

      Allcock has trained more than 70 graduate students and
postdoctorals at Penn State.  He has played a major role in
connecting fields of inorganic chemistry and polymer science, and he
has done much to expand the appeal of polymer chemistry through his
lecturing and writing activities.

Harry Allcock was the recipient of the 1984 American Chemical
Society Award in Polymer Chemistry and the 1992 ACS Award in the
Chemistry of Materials.  He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1986-87,
and has held numerous endowed lectureships.  He is the author or co-
author of over 300 publications and four books in the fields of
inorganic and organic polymers and materials.