In memory of the Maastricht-born and raised physicist and Nobel Prize winner Peter Debye (1884–1966), the board of the Hustinx Foundation awarded several Peter Debye Prizes between 1977 and 2018.
After the establishment of Maastricht University, where Edmond Hustinx served as a board member and sponsor of the Foundation for Scientific Education in Limburg (SWOL) made a significant contribution, he established a prize in memory of his friend Peter Debye. With this prize, Hustinx wanted to inspire other scientists working at the intersection of chemistry and physics. It was an international honor for individuals with exceptional contributions to cross-disciplinary science, highlighting the importance of original research in the natural sciences. The prestigious Peter Debye Prize was awarded seventeen times between 1977 and 2005 and amounted to 10,000 euros/20,000 guilders.
The Edmond Hustinx Prize for Chemistry, awarded by Peter Debye on 4 August 1962, can be regarded as the predecessor of this prize.
The Peter Debye Prize of €2,000 was awarded in 2017 to six talented students from the excellence program who applied to the Material Sciences department at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences with a research proposal in the field of practical chemistry.
The study took place in three research groups:
The research was subsequently carried out by project teams consisting of students, lecturers and the field in the laboratories of CHILL.
In 2018, a prize of €500 was awarded to authors of a profile paper in chemistry at one of the three LVO schools in Maastricht: Bonnefantencollege, Porta Mosana College, and Sint Maartenscollege.