The Illinois Heartland Section dived into uncharted waters three years ago when it applied for a Local Section Innovative Projects Grant from the ACS Local Section Activities Committee with aspirations of joining the two worlds of the arts and sciences. Often considered yin and yang, and controlled by different halves of the brain, these two disciplines coexist, often making beautiful music together, with the line drawn between them growing more blurry with each passing year. The goals were to attract a wider audience to chemistry, excite the community about science, and to collaborate with other ACS groups and community organizations. Thus was born the Distinguished Scientist Award, which is given to an interdisciplinary scientist who bridges the gap once thought to exist between the arts and sciences.

In 2004, the Illinois Heartland and Illinois-Iowa Sections were awarded a Local Section Innovative Projects Grant to provide the funding to host the inaugural Distinguished Scientist Award recipient in both Peoria, Illinois, and Moline, Iowa. The recipient was Felice Frankel, research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director of the Envisioning Science Project. Her work has been exhibited at the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the New York Hall of Science, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., and the Musee de L’Elysee in Switzerland, and it is hard to pick up a scientific journal without coming across her photographs. Using both a conventional camera and high-powered microscopic equipment, she works with scientists to capture images from scientific processes. Frankel’s photographs create an unprecedented window into science discovery by offering the viewer the opportunity to ask questions and encouraging them to pay attention to the details of the world around them. Frankel says, “I’d like to think that I’m helping to clarify, communicating science and at the same time, more important than any of that is making science accessible.”

The following year, the Illinois Heartland Section worked with ArtsPartners of Central Illinois to coordinate the second Distinguished Scientist Award and was awarded another Local Section Innovative Projects Grant. The event was funded jointly by both ArtsPartners and the ACS grant. The second recipient of the award was Suzanne Lomax, an organic scientist from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She has extensive experience analyzing works from the 15th and 16th centuries, working with infrared and X-ray technology to dive into the depths of the paintings to examine the sketches that lie beneath the paint while keeping the painting itself intact. Lomax, preserving our history through science, shared with us the latest techniques in art restoration by presenting images of astonishing restoration results from several painting masterpieces.

This year, the Illinois Heartland Society has again teamed up with ArtsPartners of Central Illinois as well as joining forces with the Peoria Art Guild and the Peoria Symphony to present a look into the science of music. Joseph Nagyvary will share with our community his scientific expertise of ancient violins. Nagyvary’s discoveries in Stradivarius violin chemistry are the subject of wide praise from both musicians and scientists, including Isaac Stern and ACS’s own past President, Attila Pavlath, who noted that Nagyvary’s findings “may be one of the truly inspirational applications of chemistry.” We are very much looking forward to Professor Nagyvary’s presentation and are excited to award him our third Distinguished Scientist Award at our awards banquet this year.

The Local Section Innovative Projects Grant provided the springboard for Illinois Heartland’s partnership with the arts. This year’s presentation will be funded solely by local area partners, making the transition to a self-supporting annual event for the Illinois Heartland Section. The events not only provided a unique opportunity for local sections to work together, but also a chance to work with area partners. It has resulted each year in an increase of audience and impacted area, and each presentation brought together a variety of disciplines within our community, providing a stimulating platform for rich discussion.

For more information, please visit:

• Innovative Projects Grant 
• Joseph Nagyvary 
• Felice Frankel 
• Suzanne Lomax