THE FIFTH SPECIAL AWARD May 7, 1959 Commodore Hotel, New York City THE SPECIAL AWARD presented annually by the Society of Cosinetic Chemists and carrying a prize of $1000, was awarded to Dr. Irvin H. Blank, eminent biochemist, in recognition of his fundamental research and writ- ings on factors controlling suppleness and flexibility of skin. The presenta- tion was made at the Special Award luncheon on May 7th at the Commodore Hotel. .- .. •.. -2. •,- ,• '•i•..L..'•'%, :..:.• •....t'...... ...... ,•: ':•Sg:'....... '" :" '"' ':'5:::•' ::' .... - . . '•: • . ½-- .:-': ß : ...• ..... ß. ' ...,•• :::, -' .: .•* .. ..... .: .- ß Savery F. Coneybear (right), President of the Soc•r¾ or Cos•nc C•s•s, presents the Annual Special Award of the SotleerY to Dr. Irvin H. Blank. Dr. Blank was among the first to recognize, demonstrate and publicize the fact that moisture is the primary factor in keeping skin soft, smooth and supple. His simple and conclusive experiments proved that the keratinized layer of the skin becomes hard and inflexible when dehydrated and cannot be softened by oil or humectants. Instead, water alone is necessary and sufficient to restore softness and flexibility of the skin. 359

360 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS According to the Society's Special Award Committee under the chair- manship of H. J. Amsterdam, which reviewed many recent publications in the fields related to cosmetic science, Dr. Blank's basic discovery has been amplified by more recent work on the effects of surfactants on moisture- retaining powers of the skin, on the desirable features of cosmetic creams, on the mode of penetration of substances applied to the skin and on the location of the skin's barrier layer. Dr. Leon Goldman, professor of dermatology, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, gave the following eulogy of Dr. Blank. "When the prophet first descended from Mount Carmel in Illinois, not too many years ago, little did he realize at that time what great groups he would lead to new and better cutaneous worlds. I do not know if the father of 'moisturizers' so-called in cosmetic advertising science, still remembers his early days in leather research at the University of Cincinnati, but those in the Department of Leather Research on the university campus still remember his excellent work and his excellent movie on the production of pigment by fungi. This was after undergraduate training as a chemical engineer, then graduate training in bacteriology and biochemistry. "Our first contact with Dr. Blank was in the unsteady middle 30's and this came about through mycology. This was the beginning of his pains- taking and tolerant instruction of the clinical dermatologist. The con- tinued small amount of basic research in this country in medical mycology would indicate simply that Dr. Blank is no longer doing basic research in medical mycology. "Following his interest in mycology at Cincinnati and later at Harvard, in 1936 he became Research Fellow in Dermatology. This is one of the fbrtunate happenings for dermatology. For in that brief space of time an extraordinary amount of basic and clinical research has come forth from that department of dermatology. In 1948 he was the only full-time inves- tigator in dermatology. In December, 1958, Dr. Griesemer summarized the research at Harvard for the period 1948 to 1958. This modest docu- ment showed the great amount of work and results accomplished by this division under the leadership of Dr. Blank. For us in clinical dermatology and for you in cosmetology, Dr. Blank's studies have been extremely important. ,His various phases of research have extended skin therapy with topical agents, the use of surfactants, skin detergents, vehicles, bac- teriology of the skin, hydration of the skin, shoe dermatitis, and now his fascinating and important experiments on percutaneous absorption. One of our great failings in dermatology is our continued lack of basic research on biochemistry and physiology of the normal epidermal cell. This was shown especially by the needs of skin research during the last war. It was then that the chemists and biologists begran to show more interest in derma- tology. This trend continues fortunately. I do not know of any other