The International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science wants to make the following announcements:

Wolfgang Domcke, together with Andrzej Sobolewski, received the Copernicus Pize for German-Polish Cooperation, awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). The prize will be awarded in the ceremony on May 14, 2008, in Warsaw. We congratulate both scientists.

Recently the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler, has awarded Sigrid D. Peyerimhoff the "Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany" (Grosses Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) for her excellent scientific achievements and her outstanding engagement in promoting science in many national and international organizations.

The Japan Academy has just announced that Keiji Morokuma (Research Leader at Fukui Institute for Fundamental Chemistry at Kyoto University, Japan and Professor Emeritus at Emory University, Atlanta, USA and at Institute for Molecular Science, Okazaki, Japan) has been awarded the Imperial Prize and the Prize of the Japan Academy, the highest prize in academia in Japan, for his "Theoretical Studies of Molecular Structure, Function and Reactivity Design." We congratulate Keiji to this honor.

Jean-Marie André was elected President of the Royal Academy of Belgium. He was also nominated as "grand officier de l'ordre de la couronne" which is a very high distinction among the "ordres nationaux belges". The Academy gratulates to this exceptional Award and honour.

The President of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic awarded the Honorary Medal "DE SCIENTIA ET HUMANITATE OPTIME MERITIS" to Joseph Paldus, Dr.Sc.,F.R.S.C. on May 15,2007. This is apparently the highest distinction awarded by the Czech Academy of Sciences. The Academy congratulates Joseph Paldus to this honour.

In October 2007 the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina awarded the Cothenius Medal in gold to Sigrid D. Peyerimhoff in recognition of her outstanding scientific lifework in quantum chemistry. The Cothenius Medal is awarded every two years, the first time in 1792.

The 44^th meeting of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science was held at Villa Maria Serena, Menton, France, on July 7-8, 2007.

1. The following people were elected as new members of the Academy.

Walter Thiel (Germany)
Tom Ziegler (Canada)

2. Annual Medal of the Academy was awarded to Frederick Roy Manby (University of Bristol, UK). The citation to accompany the medal is “for expanding the applicability range and improving the accuracy of correlated molecular electronic-structure methods by a combination of local and density-fitting techniques”.
    

The next Academy meeting will be held in Menton on July 5/6, 2008. The meeting will start as usual Saturday morning, 9 AM.

The next ICQC, 13th ICQC, will be held in Helsinki, Finland on 22 - 27 June, 2009. Details, contact Professor Pekka Pyykkö.

The first D.R.Herschbach Award, given by the "Conference on the Dynamics of Molecular Collisions", will be awarded to William H. Miller as theorist and Dick Zare as experimentalist. The Academy congratulates Bill to this honour.

The first Ahmed Zewail Prize for Molecular Sciences has been awarded to David Buckingham (University of Cambridge) for his pioneering contribution to the understanding of optical, electric and magnetic properties of molecules. The Prize will be presented during the 2007 Spring meeting of the ACS in Chicago. The academy congratulates David to this Award.

Rodney J. Bartlett has been selected as the recipient of the ACS Award in Theoretical Chemistry in 2007. This is one of the most prestigious international awards in the field and given to a scientist of any nationality or age who has accomplished innovative research in theoretical chemistry that either advances theoretical methodology or contributes to new discoveries about chemical systems. The Academy congratulates Rod to this Prize.

IAQMS gives out an Annual Medal to a person of 40 years or less (on the first day of January of the year the decision is made) who has published very original papers that have an evident importance for Quantum Molecular Science. The list of the past Laureates can be found at http://www.iaqms.org/IAQMS.awards.html. Anyone who wishes to be considered for the Annual Medal should contact an appropriate Academy member (see http://www.iaqms.org/IAQMS.members.html) with regard to his/her possible nomination, by mid April each year. Starting in 2005, an award of EUR 3000 will accompany the Annual Medal.