World Scientific author Sir John Meurig Thomas has been awarded the Royal Society 2016 Royal Medal for his pioneering work within catalytic chemistry, in particular his work on single-site heterogeneous catalysts. Only three medals a year are awarded by the Sovereign on the recommendation of the Council of the Society; the other two medals for 2016 were awarded to Professor Elizabeth Robertson and Professor John Goodby. The prestigious award pinpoints the most important contributions in the physical, biological and applied sciences. Born in Llanelli, Wales, Sir John studied Chemistry at Swansea University. He then went on to research and teach at Bangor University, before becoming Professor of Chemistry at Aberystwyth. He has also been Head of the Physical Chemistry Department at University of Cambridge and Professional Fellow at King's College, Cambridge. In 1991 Sir John was knighted for "services to Chemistry and the popularization of science". The mineral meurigite was named after him in 1995. Sir John Meurig Thomas is author of the monograph 4D Electron Microscopy and the influential textbook Design and Applications of Single-Site Heterogeneous Catalysts.