When someone looks up 'Bert Meijer' on the Cursor website, a whole series of articles pop up about all kinds of awards the TU/e professor has won. And now there is one more to be added to that list, namely: the 'Grand Prix de Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie', in other words the 'grand prize' of the French foundation called 'the house of chemistry’.

Surprise

“I didn't know the foundation at all, so it came as a total surprise,” Meijer says with a laugh. “And all the messaging was also in French so that took some figuring out.” But after a few translations, he soon found out that it was not the least prize. “Those who have won in the past are truely my heroes. It's a very big honor to be among them now, it’s unbelievable really.”

Supramolecular polymers

The prize is not tied to one specific article, but covers the winner's entire oeuvre. Meijer managed to stand out to the jury for his work on supramolecular polymers. “These are long structures made up of small molecules held together by reversible forces, such as hydrogen bonds,” Meijer explained. It is precisely these reversible bonds that make them very dynamic. A well-known example of a supramolecular polymer is DNA, for example, but nowadays these structures can be made artificially too.

The first Dutchman

Meijer is the first Dutchman ever to win this prestigious award. On February 12, he may receive his prize in Paris. “I have already seen some pictures and it all looks very nice!”