Philip Power, professor of chemistry at UC Davis who has done groundbreaking work in chemical bonding, has been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the British equivalent of the National Academy of Science.

"I was very surprised, I really didn't expect it," Power said. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society elects about 40 new fellows a year following a rigorous selection process. Candidates for election must have made "a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science."

"I am really happy that Professor Power's groundbreaking work in a brand new field of inorganic chemistry, which he practically invented, is being recognized by the Royal Society. He is now among the scientific giants, such as Isaac Newton," said Winston Ko, dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Power was one of 44 new fellows announced by the society on May 27. The new fellows will be inducted into the society at a ceremony in London on July 15, following a two-day scientific symposium.

Power was nominated for his pioneering work in making new compounds with chemical bonds previously unknown to science. Lighter elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen readily form single, double and triple bonds with each other. That allows them to form large structures such as chains and rings, giving rise to the "organic chemistry" that is the basis of life.

But elements further down the periodic table, such as silicon, aluminum and phosphorus, do not form such bonds easily. Power's laboratory was among the first in the world to make these elements act more like carbon and form large, complex molecules.

These chemicals have never been found in nature, because they break down very quickly when exposed to oxygen or water, Power said.

Power describes his work as entirely driven by curiosity.

"You couldn't justify it by return on investment next year. But so many discoveries are made out of research like this, that to me it's worthwhile," he said.

Power will be the third fellow of the Royal Society at UC Davis, but the first to be elected while on the faculty. The others are John Dewey, professor of geology, and David Mayne, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering.

Power received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Dublin, Ireland, and his doctorate from the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. He carried out postdoctoral research at Stanford University before joining the faculty at UC Davis in 1980. He has received two other prestigious awards this year: the 2005 Mond Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the 2005 F.A. Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society.

Past and current fellows of the Royal Society include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. The society currently has 1,249 fellows from the United Kingdom, Ireland and the British Commonwealth, and 126 foreign members from other countries.

The society carries out a variety of activities including providing scientific advice to the British government and policy-makers, funding grants to young scientists, publishing academic journals and organizing meetings and conferences.