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.