The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation


The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is a New York City-based foundation founded in 1946 by chemist and investor Camille Dreyfus in honour of his brother, Henry Dreyfus. The two men invented Celanese, and Henry Dreyfus was founder and chairman of British Celanese, parent of the Celanese Corporation of America.
In 1971, the foundation sold a significant part of its holdings in the Celanese company.
The foundation makes grants and awards prizes in support of chemistry research and education.
In 2009, the foundation awarded the first Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences to George M. Whitesides of Harvard University for his work in the field of materials chemistry.
In 2011, the foundation awarded the second Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences to Tobin J. Marks of Northwestern University for his work in the field of catalysis.
In 2013, the foundation awarded the third Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences to R. Graham Cooks of Purdue University for his work in chemical instrumentation.
In 2015, the foundation awarded the fourth Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences to Krzysztof Matyjaszewski of Carnegie Mellon University for his work in polymer chemistry.
In 2017, the foundation awarded the fifth Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences to Michele Parrinello of Università della Svizzera italiana and ETH Zurich in the field of theoretical and computational chemistry.
In 2019, the foundation awarded the sixth Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences to Robert Langer of MIT in the field of Chemistry in Support of Human Health.