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WITTIG GOLD NOBEL PRIZE MEDAL UP FOR SALEAnother gold Nobel Prize medal is up for sale. Here's a press release from Heritage. -Editor
  The historic 1979 Nobel Prize gold medal for chemistry awarded to Professor Georg Wittig (1897 – 1987) of Germany will be offered by Heritage Auctions (www.HA.com) on October 19, 2016 as part of Heritage’s two-day Historical Manuscripts Grand Format Auction. Four other gold medals awarded over the years to Prof. Wittig are also being offered together with the large, 22 carat Nobel Prize medal. “Dr. Georg Wittig was a distinguished researcher, author and educator who received the 1972 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his 1954 discovery of what is now known as The Wittig Reaction, a process of regulating the regrouping of atoms in a molecule,” said Cristiano Bierrenbach, Heritage’s Executive Vice President of International Numismatics. “Professor Wittig’s work along with Nobel Prize co-recipient Herbert C. Brown made it possible to mass produce hundreds of important drugs, such as the arthritis medicine hydrocortisone, as well as mass produce industrial chemicals that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive,” Bierrenbach explained. The Nobel Prize medal, designed by Swedish artist Erik Lindberg, measures 6.5 centimeters in diameter (approximately 2.5 inches) and weighs 204.0 grams (approximately 7.2 ounces). Struck in 22 carat gold, it features female allegories of Science and Nature, with Wittig's name and the year of the award engraved beneath. The front side features the likeness of Alfred Nobel with the dates of his birth, 1833, and death, 1896, in Roman numerals. The medal is housed in the original presentation case received by Prof. Wittig in 1972. The four other medals received by Prof. Wittig and accompanying the Nobel Prize medal in the auction are:
Full descriptions of all the medals are available online at: https://historical.ha.com/itm/miscellaneous/georg-wittig- nobel-prize- medal-in- chemistry-received-in- 1979-together- with-four- additional-medals/p/6165-67001.s?ic5=CatalogHome-FeaturedItems-071515 . “Most of Dr. Wittig's scientific work, including that which won him the Nobel Prize, was conducted during his years at the University of Tübingen. He was known as a meticulous teacher who set very high standards for his students, and he established a productive research group of young, promising scientists,” said Bierrenbach. Prof. Wittig died on August 26, 1987, just a few weeks after his 90th birthday. For additional information about the medal or other items offered in this auction, contact Heritage Auctions at (877) 437-4824 or visit online at www.HA.com. You're just twitching to shout, "It's the OBVERSE, not the FRONT!", aren't you? Well, have at it. I, on the
other hand, gained a Zen-like calm when I gave up the mission of correcting every numismatic injustice like using "Penny" for
"Cent". A press release like this, even though it comes from a numismatic auction house, is intended for a more general audience. For most
of them, it's just the front side of the medal. -Editor
 Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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