IAHE has established awards...

...to formally recognize those individuals and organizations who have made major contributions to the cause of hydrogen energy worldwide. It recognizes five categories of such contributions, each award being named after an important historical individual who had pioneered general and/or specific facets of hydrogen energy:

• IAHE Jules Verne Award for Superior Service (a general area of involvement). Jules Verne, of course, predicted the hydrogen energy idea in his 1874 novel The Mysterious Island.
• IAHE Rudolph A. Erren Award for Leadership in Thermochemical Area (involvement with heat engines and combustion, thermochemical production, facets of hydrogen transmission, distribution and storage, e.g., metal hydrides). Rudolph Erren was the noted dynamic German developer of hydrogen fueled motor vehicles, demonstrated in fleet service in the 1930s.
• IAHE Sir William Grove Award for Leadership in Electrochemical Area (involvement with fuel cells and electrolyzers, and other electro-chemical means relating to hydrogen processing). Sir William Grove was the inventor of the fuel cell in England in 1839, producing electricity and water from hydrogen and oxygen.
• IAHE Akira Mitsui Award for Leadership in Biological Area (relating to biological processes for producing hydrogen and synthesizing valued products utilizing hydrogen). Dr. Mitsui was a noted Japanese-American researcher in the photo-biological hydrogen production field, using special types of algae and micro-organisms to this end.
• IAHE Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Award for Leadership in Aerospace Area (relating to the use of hydrogen as the leading aerospace propulsion fuel and as energy carrier in space vehicles, satellites and stations). Professor Tsiolkovsky was the Russian pioneer of Astronautics, who first proposed hydrogen-fueled rocket propulsion for spaceflight in the late 1890s.

The above is an outstanding international representation of visionaries, scientists and technologists, who have done much early on to elevate hydrogen to its rightful place as the leading clean, renewable energy prospect for the future. With these awards IAHE honors the pioneers, as well as our contemporaries, who have contributed so much to forwarding progress in this noble field of endeavor.

An International Awards Committee has been established, consisting of distinguished hydrogen energy scientists from around the world, viz.: Dr. Frano Barbir (Chair), U.S.A., Prof. Bao Deyou, China, Prof. K.F. Knoche, Germany, Prof. Stanislav P. Malyshenko, Russia, Prof. O.N. Srivastava, India, Dr. C.E. (Sandy) Thomas, U.S.A.; and Prof. Kunio Yoshida, Japan. The committee will forward their recommendations to the IAHE Board of Directors for final decision.

Suggestions from the members on this recognition initiative are welcome, and nominations for specific individuals and/or organizations for these awards should be forwarded to the IAHE Awards Committee Chairman at the following address:

Prof. Dr. F. Barbir
UNIDO-ICHET
Sabri Ulker Sok, 38/4, Cevizlibag, Zeytinburnu
34015 Istanbul, Turkey
Email: barbir@unido-ichet.org

The following were the recipients of the IAHE awards