POSTECH News

Professor Suk Bong Hong is the First Asian Scientist to Win the Breck Award

2022-08-02 383

[Professor Hong wins the Breck award, considered the Nobel Prize of zeolite, at the 20th International Zeolite Conference on July 7]

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The Breck Award announced Professor Suk Bong Hong of the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering at POSTECH as the individual winner of the Breck Award at the 20th International Zeolite Conference (IZC) held in Valencia, Spain on July 7, 2022.

The award is known as the Nobel Prize of zeolite*1 and Professor Hong is the first individual winner from Asia. It is worth noting that Professor Hong received the award as an individual 18 years after Professor Avelino Corma Canos from University of Valencia, a leading candidate for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, won the award in 2004.

Professor Hong was also appointed as the next chairman of the nominating committee for the Breck Award at the conference for the first time in Asia.

Professor Suk Bong Hong received his Ph.D. degree from Virginia Tech and worked at Caltech and KIST before joining the POSTECH faculty in 2007. He has been publishing groundbreaking research findings using novel concepts of synthesizing zeolites, such as the multiple inorganic cation approach and excess fluoride approach.

Professor Hong also received structure codes from the structure commission of the International Zeolite Association (IZA) for discovering 11 new structures, making significant contributions to applied research areas such as the development of zeolite-based catalysts for denitrification and the separation of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, he is recognized for leading academic development by publishing approximately 250 research studies including two in Nature and one in Science, as well as presenting nearly 50 patents.

The Breck Award was established in 1983 to honor Donald W. Breck, a pioneering researcher in zeolite synthesis, who contributed to the founding of the International Zeolite Association. The award is presented every three years to an individual or group around the world who have made significant contributions to nanoporous materials.


1. Zeolite
Hydrous silicate minerals containing sodium and aluminum