Polly Arnold facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Polly Arnold
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Arnold in 2018
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| Born |
Polly Louise Arnold
24 July 1972 |
| Education | Notting Hill and Ealing High School Westminster School |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA) University of Sussex (DPhil) |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Low valent and low co-ordinate complexes of transition metals and lanthanides (1997) |
| Doctoral advisor | Geoffrey Cloke |
Polly Louise Arnold (born 24 July 1972) is a famous British chemist. She is the director of the chemical sciences division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States. She is also a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.
Before moving to the U.S., she was a top professor at the School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh in Scotland for over ten years.
Education
Arnold went to Notting Hill and Ealing High School and later Westminster School in London. She earned her first degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford.
After Oxford, she went to the University of Sussex. There, she earned a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree. This is one of the highest degrees a scientist can get for their research.
Scientific Career and Research
Professor Arnold's research is all about creating new chemicals and molecules that have never been made before. She works with some of the heaviest and most unusual elements from the bottom of the periodic table, like the lanthanides and actinides.
By studying these special elements, she helps us understand how to create better catalysts. Catalysts are substances that speed up chemical reactions, which is very useful in making everything from medicines to plastics. Her work also helps us learn how to safely manage nuclear waste.
After earning her DPhil, Arnold worked as a special researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. In 1999, she returned to the United Kingdom to start her own research group.
Promoting Science
Besides her lab work, Arnold is passionate about showing how important it is to have people from all backgrounds in science. She often speaks to the public, advises the government, and uses social media. She talks about the benefits of diversity in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
Awards and Honors
Polly Arnold has won many awards for her amazing scientific work and for being a great role model.
- In 2012, she won the Rosalind Franklin Award. This award is given to outstanding female scientists. She used the prize money to help make a documentary film called A Chemical Imbalance.
- In the same year, she also received the Corday-Morgan Prize for her work with uranium chemistry.
- In 2015, she was given a Suffrage Science award, which celebrates women in science and engineering.
- In 2017, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). This is a special honor in the United Kingdom for her services to chemistry and for helping women in STEM.
- In 2018, she won the Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson award. She is the only woman to have won this prize since it started in 1999.
- Also in 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is one of the highest honors a scientist in the UK can receive.
- In 2024, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
