The University Record, May 22, 1995
Massey named to National Academy of Sciences
Vincent Massey, professor of biological chemistry, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Massey is one of 60 new members who, along with 15 international associates from 11 countries, were elected to the Academy in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Election to membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest honors accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. Those recently elected bring the total number of current active members to 1,733.
Massey, who joined the U-M in 1963, has conducted extensive research on biological oxidation mechanisms. His discoveries include the existence of a group of enzymes that play a significant role in the energy metabolism of all mammalian and most bacterial cells.
His research team currently is investigating the molecular events in oxygen activation caused by flavoproteins, building on Massey’s discovery of flavins as the major source of superoxide, a reactive form of oxygen formed when an oxygen molecule gains a single electron.
Massey received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, England, in 1953. He has published more than 250 journal articles and has received numerous honors, including the 1983 Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the University of Michigan and the 1995 Henry Russel Lectureship.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. The Academy was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, that calls upon the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.
