Saykally to receive Czech science medal

Berkeley, CA, September 1, 2004--Richard Saykally, Class of 1932 Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley and Principal Investigator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will receive the Johannes Markus Marci Medal from the Czech Republic, honoring the 17th Century Czech physicist who first explained the origin of the rainbow, at the 18th Annual International Conference on High Resolution Spectroscopy in Prague later this month.

Saykally is being honored for numerous contributions to laser spectroscopy, including over 300 published papers. He will deliver a public lecture entitled "What Makes Water Wet? Some New Insights from Spectroscopy" in the historic Prague City Hall on September 10.