Abstract: THE thirty-second Willard Gibbs Medal, the highest award of international scope which the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society can bestow, has been given to Prof. C. A. Elvehjem, professor of biochemistry in the University of Wisconsin. In 1928, Prof. Elvehjem with his associates received wide recognition for work involving trace elements in nutrition. They discovered that copper is essential to the formation of hæmoglobin. Later their studies revealed the place of a number of metals in nutrition, such as iron, manganese and aluminium. While at Cambridge, Prof. Elvehjem conducted studies on tissue respiration which have since been applied to the study of vitamin functions. Use of nicotinic acid in the prevention and cure of pellagra and other deficiency diseases have developed from Prof. Elvehjem's discovery. The role of nicotinic acid in animal nutrition has also been developed. He is now conducting studies on the newer members of the growing family of B vitamins.