Editor's Note: Over the course of three months in 1997, we asked C&EN readers to nominate their choices for C&EN's" Top 75 Distinguished Contributors to the Chemical Enterprise" during the 75 years of C&EN's existence. Using a ballot in the magazine, readers could nominate up to 20 people, living or dead. We urged nominators to think broadly and globally. Readers nominated more than 1,200 individuals. The result-a readers' choice of "C&EN's Top 75"-follows. The list was compiled and researched by Diana Slade and Maureen Rouhi at C&EN headquarters in Washington, D.C.

C&EN's goal in its 75th anniversary year is to highlight the important contributions that chemists and chemical engineers have made to society at large. We thank our readers for helping us do just that, we salute all of the contributors to the chemical enterprise, and we invite you to attend the Presidential Event at the ACS national meeting in Boston on Aug. 23, where ACS President Paul H. L. Walter will celebrate and honor C&EN's Top 75.

Roger Adams
Jan. 2, 1889-July 6, 1971; born in Boston
Education: A.B., 1909; A.M., 1910; Ph.D., 1912; all from Harvard University
Major contributions: Developed method for preparing uniformly active palladium and platinum catalysts; structural elucidation of natural compounds; toxic alkaloids; organic synthesis; synthetic polymers; studies in steric hindrance and racemization; directed 184 doctoral theses
Major prizes: 1946 Priestley Medal; 1964 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Sciences

Alfred Bader
Born April 28, 1924, in Vienna, Austria
Education: B.S., 1945, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario; B.A., 1946, Queen's University; M.S., 1947, Queen's University; M.A., 1949, Harvard University; Ph.D., chemistry, 1950, Harvard University
Major contributions: Founded Aldrich Chemical Co. in 1951; cofounded Sigma-Aldrich Corp. in 1975
Major prizes: 1995 ACS Charles Lathrop Parsons Award; 1997 Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists

Derek Harold Richard Barton
Born Sept. 8, 1918, in Gravesend, Kent, England
Current affiliation: Texas A&M University, College Station
Education: B.S., 1940; Ph.D., organic chemistry, 1942; D.Sc., organic chemistry, 1949; all from Imperial College, London
Major contributions: Pyrolysis of chlorinated hydrocarbons; molecular rotation correlations; conformational analysis; phenolic radical coupling and biosynthesis; invention of radical reactions; selective functionalization of saturated hydrocarbons
Major prizes: 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1959 ACS Roger Adams Medal (first awardee); 1971 Award in Natural Product Chemistry of the Chemical Society of London (first awardee); 1995 Priestley Medal; 1995 Lavoisier Medal of the French Chemical Society

Arnold Orville Beckman
Born April 10, 1900, in Cullom, Ill.
Education: B.S., 1922, University of Illinois; M.S., 1923, University of Illinois; Ph.D., photochemistry, 1928, California Institute of Technology
Major contributions: Developed pH meter; founded Beckman Instruments
Major prizes: 1988 National Medal of Technology; 1989 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Engineering

Ronald C. D. Breslow
Born March 14, 1931, in Rahway, N.J.
Current affiliation: Columbia University
Education: A.B., 1952; A.M., 1953; Ph.D., chemistry, 1955; all from Harvard University
Major contributions: First extended monocyclic aromaticity away from six electron cases; proposed and demonstrated antiaromaticity; discovered chemical and biochemical reaction mechanisms; invented effective artificial enzymes; invented biomimetic functionalization methods; applied hydrophobic effect to chemical synthesis and mechanisms; invented electrochemical methods for carbon cation, radical, and anion energies; invented novel cytodifferentiation agents
Major prizes: 1987 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; 1989 National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences; 1990 Swiss Chemical Society Paracelsus Medal; 1991 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Sciences

Herbert C. Brown
Born May 22, 1912, in London
Current affiliation: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.
Education: B.S., 1936; Ph.D., inorganic chemistry, 1938; both from University of Chicago
Major contributions: Diborane as facile reducing agent to aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids; discovered simple synthetic routes to diborane and sodium borohydride; explored steric effects and chemical effects of steric strains; discovered hydroboration, providing ready synthesis of organoboranes; developed versatile chemistry of organoboranes; developed a general asymmetric synthesis to pure enantiomers
Major prizes: 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1969 National Medal of Science; 1981 Priestley Medal; 1998 ACS H. C. Brown Award for Creative Work on Synthetic Methods (first awardee); member, National Academy of Sciences

Melvin Calvin
April 8, 1911-Jan. 8, 1997; born in St. Paul, Minn.
Education: B.S., 1931, Michigan College of Mining & Technology; Ph.D., chemistry, 1935, University of Minnesota
Major contributions: Pathway of carbon in photosynthesis; organic molecular structure and behavior; coordination catalysis of metalloporphyrins
Major prizes: 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1978 Priestley Medal; 1989 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Sciences

Wallace Hume Carothers
April 27, 1896-April 29, 1937; born in Burlington, Iowa
Education: B.S., 1920, Tarkio College, Missouri; M.S., 1921, University of Illinois; Ph.D., chemistry, 1924, University of Illinois
Major contributions: Development of neoprene and nylon at DuPont

James Bryant Conant
March 26, 1893-Feb. 11, 1978; born in Dorchester, Mass.
Education: B.S., 1913; Ph.D., 1916; both from Harvard University
Major contributions: Pioneer in physical chemistry; acid-base catalysis; existence of superacids; director of National Defense Research Committee during World War II; established coeducation at Harvard University; author of books on public education
Major prizes: 1944 Priestley Medal

Arthur Clay Cope
June 27, 1909-June 4, 1966; born in Dunreith, Ind.
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1929, Butler University, Indianapolis; Ph.D., 1932, University of Wisconsin
Major contributions: Chemistry of medium-sized ring compounds; transannular reactions; rearrangement of allyl groups in three-carbon systems; work in synthetic organic chemistry
Major prizes: 1965 ACS Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry

Elias James Corey
Born July 12, 1928, in Methuen, Mass.
Current affiliation: Harvard University
Education: B.S., 1948; Ph.D., chemistry, 1951; both from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Major contributions: Development of the fundamental logic of chemical synthesis and many generally useful reactions and methods for synthesis; achievement of total synthesis of more than 100 complex, biologically active molecules; use of computers in chemistry; theory and stereochemistry of organic reactions; stereoelectronic effects in organic reactions; importance of orbital symmetry in control cycloaddition and pericyclic reactions; enantioselective catalysis
Major prizes: 1990 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1976 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; 1986 Wolf Prize; 1988 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Sciences

F. Albert Cotton
Born April 9, 1930, in Philadelphia
Current affiliation: Texas A&M University, College Station
Education: A.B., 1951, Temple University; Ph.D., chemistry, 1955, Harvard University
Major contributions: Work in inorganic chemistry, protein chemistry, structural chemistry, and chemical bonding; originator of the field of compounds containing single and multiple bonds between metal atoms; contributed in the fields of protein structure, spectroscopic studies of metal carbonyls, and dynamic behavior of fluxional organometallic and metal carbonyl compounds
Major prizes: 1982 National Medal of Science; 1990 National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences; 1994 Welch Award in Chemistry; 1998 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Donald J. Cram Born April 22, 1919, in Chester, Vt.
Current affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles
Education: B.S., 1941, Rollins College; M.S., 1942, University of Nebraska; Ph.D., organic chemistry, 1947, Harvard University
Major contributions: Application of stereochemical techniques to organic reaction mechanisms (for example, phenonium ions, Cram's rule, asymmetric solvation of carbanions); introduced cyclophane transannular effect studies; introduced host-guest synthetic organic chemical binding systems as models for biological processes; studied structural and chiral recognition in binding; invented carceplexes (guest molecules completely encapsulated by hosts)
Major prizes: 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1974 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; 1992 National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences; 1993 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Sciences

Francis Harry Compton Crick
Born June 8, 1916, in Northampton, England
Current affiliation: Salk Institute of Biological Studies, San Diego
Education: B.S., 1937, University College, London; Ph.D., 1954, Cambridge University
Major contributions: Determined structure of DNA; studies of mammalian brain
Major prizes: 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; foreign associate, National Academy of Sciences

Marie Curie
Nov. 7, 1867-July 4, 1934; born in Warsaw, Poland
Education: Master's degree, 1894, Sorbonne
Major contributions: Discovery of radioactivity; discovery of radium and polonium
Major prizes: 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics; 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Peter Joseph William Debye
March 24, 1884- Nov. 2, 1966; born in Maastricht, the Netherlands
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1905, Technische Hochschule, Aachen; Ph.D., physics, 1908, Ludwig-Maximilian University
Major contributions: Determination and definition of dipole moment; powder method of X-ray diffraction
Major prizes: 1936 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1963 Priestley Medal

Carl Djerassi Born Oct. 29, 1923, in Vienna, Austria
Current affiliation:Stanford University
Education: A.B., 1942, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio; Ph.D., organic chemistry, 1945, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Major contributions: Structure elucidation of natural products (antibiotics, alkaloids, steroids, and terpenoids); synthesis of medicinals (antihistamines, anti-inflammatory agents, oral contraceptives, hormone analogs); applications of physical measurements (notably optical rotatory dispersion, magnetic circular dichroism, and mass spectrometry) and computer artificial intelligence techniques to organic chemical problems
B>Major prizes: 1973 National Medal of Science; 1973 ACS Award for Creative Invention; 1978 Wolf Prize in Chemistry; 1991 National Medal of Technology; 1992 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Herbert Henry Dow
Feb. 26, 1866-Oct. 15, 1930; born in Belleville, Ontario
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1888, Case Institute of Applied Science
Major contributions: Formed Dow Chemical Co. in 1897; reinvented manufacturing process for bromine and other industrial chemicals; helped to break stranglehold of powerful European cartels

Pierre Samuel DuPont Jan. 15, 1870-April 5, 1954; born in Wilmington, Del.
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1890, Massachu- setts Institute of Technology
Major contributions: Worked at DuPont 1902-20; president of DuPont 1915-20; transformed the premier U.S. explosives maker, E. I. du Pont de Nemours, into the well-known diversified chemical producer

George Eastman
July 2, 1854-March 14, 1932; born in Waterville, N.Y.
Major contributions: Process for making dry plates for photography and a machine to make large numbers of dry plates; established Eastman Dry Plate & Film Co. in 1884, which became Eastman Kodak in 1892; developed transparent film and Brownie camera with removable film

Ernest L. Eliel
Born Dec. 28, 1921, in Cologne, Germany
Current affiliation: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Education: B.S., 1946, University of Havana; Ph.D., chemistry, 1948, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Major contributions: Organic stereochemistry and conformational analysis, including three landmark books: "Stereochemistry of Carbon Compounds" (1962), "Conformational Analysis" (1965, coauthored), "Stereochemistry of Organic Compounds" (1994, with S. H. Wilen); coeditor of Topics in Stereochemistry (1965-94)
Major prizes: 1968 Lavoisier Medal of the French Chemical Society; 1995 ACS George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education; 1996 Priestley Medal; 1997 National Academy of Sciences Award for Chemistry in Service to Society; member, National Academy of Sciences

Gertrude B. Elion
Born Jan. 23, 1918, in New York City
Current affiliation: Glaxo Wellcome
Education: B.A., 1937, Hunter College; M.S., chemistry, 1941, New York University
Major contributions: Rational design, synthesis, and development of therapeutic agents: 6-mercaptopurine and 6-thioguanine for the treatment of acute leukemia and azathioprine for the prevention of kidney transplant rejection; played a major role in the development of allopurinol for the treatment of gout; acyclovir, a selective antiviral agent for herpes virus infections
Major prizes: 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; 1968 ACS Francis P. Garvan Medal; 1991 National Medal of Science; 1997 Lemelson/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lifetime Achievement Award; member, National Academy of Sciences

Henry Eyring
Feb. 20, 1901-Dec. 26, 1981; born in Colonia Juarez, Mexico
Education: B.S., 1923, University of Arizona; M.S., 1924, University of Arizona; Ph.D., chemistry, 1927, University of California, Berkeley
Major contributions: Transition-state theory; chemical kinetics; construction of first potential energy surface for a reaction
Major prizes: 1975 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Louis Frederick Fieser
April 7, 1899-July 25, 1977; born in Columbus, Ohio
Education: B.A., 1920, Williams College; Ph.D., 1924, Harvard University
Major contributions: Chemistry of aromatic compounds, especially quinones and hydroquinones; new synthetic route to anthraquinones; synthesis of vitamin K; identification of carcinogens;" Steroids" reference work; coauthor of 17-volume series "Reagents for Organic Synthesis"
Major prizes: Member, National Academy of Sciences

Mary Fieser
May 27, 1909-March 22, 1997; born in Atchison, Kan.
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1930, Bryn Mawr Col- lege; M.S., organic chemistry, Radcliffe College
Major contributions: Research on quinones, natural products, steroids; coauthored "Basic Organic Chemistry," "Advanced Organic Chemistry," "Style Guide for Chemists," "Steroids," and 17-volume series "Reagents for Organic Synthesis"

Paul John Flory
July 19, 1910-Sept. 8, 1985; born in Sterling, Ill.
Education: B.S., 1931, Manchester College; Ph.D., 1934, Ohio State University
Major contributions: Physical chemistry of macromolecules; solved excluded-volume problem of polymers in solution; spatial configuration of chain molecules; thermodynamics of solutions; authored "Principles of Polymer Chemistry"
Major prizes: 1974 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1974 Priestley Medal

Mary Lowe Good
Born June 20, 1931, in Grapevine, Texas
Current affiliation: Venture Capital Investors Inc.
Education: B.S., 1950, University of Central Arkansas; M.S., 1953, University of Arkansas; Ph.D., chemistry, 1955, University of Arkansas
Major contributions: Served in research and leadership positions at Louisiana State University and at AlliedSignal; provided science and technology advice and leadership as undersecretary for technology of the Department of Commerce, member of the National Science Board, and chairman of the President's Council of Advisers on Science & Technology; leadership in ACS as a board member and as 1987 ACS president
Major prizes: 1992 National Science Foundation Distinguished Public Service Award; 1995 honorary fellowship, Royal Society of Chemistry; 1996 ACS Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management; 1997 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Engineering

Harry B. Gray
Born Nov. 14, 1935, in Woodburn, Ky.
Current affiliation: California Institute of Technology
Education: B.S., 1957, Western Kentucky University; Ph.D., chemistry, 1960, Northwestern University
Major contributions: Landmark work on the electronic structures of inorganic compounds and metalloproteins; on inorganic spectroscopy and photochemistry, particularly for complexes containing metal-metal bonds; and on the mechanisms of inorganic and bioinorganic reactions; cofounder of the field of bioinorganic chemistry; pioneered the study of electron transfer in proteins
Major prizes: 1986 National Medal of Science; 1986 Linus Pauling Medal; 1988 California Scientist of the Year; 1991 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Louis Plack Hammett
April 7, 1894-Feb. 23, 1987; born in Wilmington, Del.
Education: A.B., 1916, Harvard University; Ph.D., 1923, Columbia University
Major contributions: Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR); correlation of electronic properties of acids and bases with equilibrium constants and reactivity; developed Hammett equation for linear free-energy relationships and the correlation of changes in chemical properties with chemical structure
Major prizes: 1961 Priestley Medal; 1967 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Sciences

Dudley Robert Herschbach
Born June 18, 1932, in San Jose, Calif.
Current affiliation: Harvard University
Education: B.S., 1954, Stanford University; M.S., 1955, Stanford University; A.M., 1956, Harvard University; Ph.D., chemical physics, 1958, Harvard University
Major contributions: Development of molecular beam methods for study of elementary chemical reaction dynamics
Major prizes: 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1991 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Sciences

Joel Henry Hildebrand
Nov. 16, 1881-April 30, 1983; born in Camden, N.J.
Education: B.S., 1903; Ph.D., 1906; both from the University of Pennsylvania
Major contributions: Behavior of liquids and nonelectrolyte solutions; authored "Principles of Chemistry" textbook; science education
Major prizes: 1962 Priestley Medal; 1952 ACS Award in Chemical Education; member, National Academy of Sciences

Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin
May 12, 1910-July 30, 1994; born in Cairo, Egypt
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1932, Somerville College, Oxford, England; Ph.D., 1937, Cambridge University
Major contributions: Use of X-ray diffraction techniques to determine the structure of complex compounds including vitamin B-12, penicillin, and insulin
Major prizes: 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Roald Hoffmann
Born July 18, 1937, in Zloczow, Poland
Current affiliation: Cornell University
Education: B.A., 1958, Columbia College; M.A., 1960, Harvard University; Ph.D., chemical physics, 1962, Harvard University
Major contributions: Established qualitative molecular-orbital-based ways of thinking about the electronic and geometrical structure and reactivity of all molecules-organic, inorganic, organometallic, surface, and extended structures; rules for predicting course of pericyclic reactions
Major prizes: 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1973 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; 1983 National Medal of Science; 1986 National Academy of Sciences Award in the Chemical Sciences; 1990 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Christopher Kelk Ingold
Oct. 28, 1893-Dec. 8, 1970; born in London
Education: B.S., 1913, University of Southampton, England; M.S., 1913, Imperial College, London; D.Sc., 1919, Imperial College, London
Major contributions: Electronic theory of organic reaction mechanisms; structure and mechanism in organic chemistry; terminology of physical organic chemistry; sequence rules for defining absolute configuration
Major prizes: Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry

William Summer Johnson
Feb. 24, 1913-Aug. 19, 1995; born in New Rochelle, N.Y.
Education: A.B., 1936, Amherst College; A.M., 1938, Harvard University; Ph.D., 1940, Harvard University
Major contributions: New and more efficient ways to synthesize complex molecules, including corticoid steroids
Major prizes: 1987 National Medal of Science; 1989 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; member, National Academy of Sciences

Irène Joliot-Curie
Sept. 12, 1897-March 17, 1956; born in Paris
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1914, Collège Sévigné doctorate, 1920, Sorbonne
Major contributions: Discovery of artificial radioactivity; her work led to the discovery of the neutron and fission
Major prizes: 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Percy Lavon Julian
April 11, 1899-April 19, 1975; born in Montgomery, Ala.
Education: B.S., 1920, DePauw University; M.S., 1923, Harvard University; Ph.D., 1931, University of Vienna
Major contributions: Synthesis of physostigmine and cortisone
Major prizes: Member, National Academy of Sciences

Ralph Landau
Born May 19, 1916, in Philadelphia
Current affiliation: Listowel Inc.
Education: B.S., 1937, University of Pennsylvania; Sc.D., chemical engineering, 1941, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Major contributions: Cofounded Scientific Design in 1946; led company in development of the current terephthalic acid process used in most polyester manufacture; the propylene oxide process used in many urethane products; and cyclohexane oxidation, which is used in many nylon precursor operations
Major prizes: 1973 Chemical Industry Medal; 1981 Perkin Medal; 1985 National Medal of Technology; 1997 Othmer Medal of the Chemical Heritage Foundation; member, National Academy of Engineering

Irving Langmuir
Jan. 31, 1881-Aug. 16, 1957; born in Brooklyn
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1903, Columbia University School of Mines; Ph.D., 1906, University of Göttingen
Major contributions: Invention of high-vacuum electron tube and gas-filled incandescent lamp; development of modern surface chemistry; theory of adsorption catalysis; discovery of monomolecular films; molecular orientation at surfaces; understanding of plasmas, heat transfer, and thermionic phenomena
Major prizes: 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry; member, National Academy of Sciences

Jean-Marie Lehn
Born Sept. 30, 1939, in Rosheim, Alsace, France
Current affiliation: Collège de France
Education: B.S., 1960; Ph.D., 1963; both from the University of Strasbourg
Major contributions: Supramolecular chemistry: cryptates, molecular recognition, molecular receptors and coreceptors, supramolecular catalysis; transport processes; self-assembly and self-organization; supramolecular materials; chemionics: molecular photonic, electronic, and ionic devices; semiochemistry; two books, including "Supramolecular Chemistry: Concepts and Perspectives" (1997)
Major prizes: 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1982 Swiss Chemical Society Paracelsus Medal; 1997 Lavoisier Medal of the French Chemical Society; 1997 Davy Medal of the Royal Society; foreign associate, National Academy of Sciences

Gilbert Newton Lewis
Oct. 23, 1875-March 23, 1946; born in Weymouth, Mass.
Education: A.B., 1896; M.A., 1898; Ph.D., 1899; all from Harvard University
Major contributions: Theory of chemical bonding and valence, based on concept of shared electron pair; acids and bases as electron pair acceptors and donors

Rudolph Arthur Marcus
Born July 21, 1923, in Montreal, Quebec
Current affiliation: California Institute of Technology
Education: B.Sc., 1943; Ph.D., chemistry, 1946; both from McGill University
Major contributions: Marcus theory of electron-transfer reactions in chemical, electrochemical, and biological systems; RRKM (Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus) theory of unimolecular reactions and bimolecular association reactions; semiclassical and intramolecular dynamics of reactions
Major prizes: 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1985 Wolf Prize in Chemistry; 1989 National Medal of Science; foreign member, Royal Society of London; member, American Philosophical Society

Herman F. Mark
May 3, 1895-April 6, 1992; born in Vienna, Austria
Education: Ph.D., 1921, University of Vienna
Major contributions: Development of polymer science; structural determination of natural polymers; development of new polymers, including polyvinyls and polyacrylics
Major prizes: Member, National Academy of Sciences

Carl (Speed) Marvel
Sept. 11, 1894-Jan. 4, 1988; born in Waynesville, Ill.
Education: B.S., 1915, Illinois Wesleyan University; M.S., 1915, Illinois Wesleyan University; Ph.D., 1920, University of Illinois
Major contributions: Development of polymer science; vinyl polymers; high-temperature-resistant polymers
Major prizes: 1956 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Samuel Proctor Massie Jr.
Born July 3, 1919, in North Little Rock, Ark.
Current affiliation: U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.
Education: B.S., 1938, A.M.N. College, Arkansas; M.A., 1940, Fisk University; Ph.D., organic chemistry, 1946, Iowa State University
Major contributions: Studies in silicon chemistry; chemistry of phenothiazine; antimalarial-antibacterial agents; studies on environmental agents; encouraging disadvantaged students into science careers; Samuel P. Massie Chair of Excellence Program established in 1994 by the Department of Energy committing $14.7 million in grants over a five-year period to nine historically black colleges and universities and one Hispanic-serving institution
Major prizes: 1980 NOBCChE Teaching Award; 1994 ACS James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Chemistry; 1996 ACS Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences

Lise Meitner
Nov. 7, 1878-Oct. 27, 1968; born in Vienna, Austria
Education: Ph.D., 1905, University of Vienna
Major contributions: Discovery of protactinium; chemistry of radioactivity; codiscoverer of nuclear fission

R. Bruce Merrifield
Born July 15, 1921, in Fort Worth, Texas
Current affiliation: Rockefeller University
Education: B.A., 1943; Ph.D., biochemistry, 1949; both from University of California, Los Angeles
Major contributions: Conceived and developed solid-phase peptide synthesis and applied it to the chemical synthesis of various growth factors, antibiotics, hormones, and effective antagonists of glucagon; completed the first total synthesis of an enzyme; technique now used for the combinatorial synthesis of peptide and nonpeptide libraries
Major prizes: 1984 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1972 ACS Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry; 1987 Royal Society of Chemistry Medal; 1993 Glenn T. Seaborg Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Robert Sanderson Mulliken
June 7, 1896-Oct. 31, 1986; born in Newburyport, Mass.
Education: B.S., 1917, Massachu- setts Institute of Technology; Ph.D., 1921, University of Chicago
Major contributions: Codeveloper of molecular orbital theory; electronic structure of molecules
Major prizes: 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1983 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Giulio Natta
Feb. 26, 1903-May 2, 1979; born in Imperia, Liguria, Italy
Education: Dottore degree, 1924; Libero Docente degree, 1927; both from Milan Polytechnic Institute
Major contributions: Discovery and elucidation of stereospecific polymerization and stereoregular polymers; development of commercially important polymerization processes
Major prizes: 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

George A. Olah
Born May 22, 1927, in Budapest, Hungary
Current affiliation: University of Southern California
Education: Ph.D., chemistry, 1949, Technical University of Budapest
Major contributions: Study of carbocations as long-lived species in superacids and investigation of related hydrocarbon chemistry, including development of environmentally benign and safe processes; study of new synthetic reagents and methods; structural and mechanistic studies in organic chemistry
Major prizes: 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1964 ACS Award in Petroleum Chemistry; 1979 ACS Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry; 1989 ACS Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry; member, National Academy of Sciences

Donald Frederick Othmer
May 11, 1904-Nov. 1, 1995; born in Omaha, Neb.
Education: B.ChE., 1924, University of Nebraska; M.ChE., 1925, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Ph.D., chemical engineering, 1927, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Major contributions: Cofounder and editor of Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology; development of Polytechnic University of Brooklyn's chemical engineering program; solutions to problems in manufacturing plastics, food, textiles, and pharmaceuticals

Charles Lathrop Parsons
March 23, 1867-Feb. 13, 1954; born in New Marboro, Mass.
Education: B.S., 1888, Cornell University; D.Sc., 1911, University of Maine
Major contributions: Chemistry of beryllium; organized project to develop an American process for extracting radium from Colorado and Utah carnotite, which led to establishment of National Radium Institute; authority on nitrogen fixation, uranium, and radium; obtained federal charter for ACS; directed gift of ownership of Universal Oil Products Co. into a trusteeship under which ACS administers the Petroleum Research Fund grants
Major prizes: 1932 Priestley Medal

Linus Carl Pauling
Feb. 28, 1901-Aug. 19, 1994; born in Portland, Ore.
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1922, Oregon Agricultural College; Ph.D., 1925, California Institute of Technology
Major contributions: Nature of the chemical bond; valence bond theory; concepts of electronegativity, resonance, and hybridization; application of structural chemistry to biological molecules
Major prizes: 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1962 Nobel Peace Prize; 1948 Presidential Medal of Merit for outstanding service during World War II; 1984 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

George Claude Pimentel
May 2, 1922-June 1, 1989; born in Rolinda, Calif.
Education: A.B., 1943, University of California, Los Angeles; Ph.D., 1949, University of California, Berkeley
Major contributions: Development of chemical lasers, matrix isolation techniques, and rapid-scan IR spectroscopy; designed instruments for interplanetary spacecraft; revitalized teaching of chemistry in high schools

Major prizes: 1983 National Medal of Science; 1989 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Vladimir Prelog
July 23, 1906-Jan. 7, 1998; born in Sarajevo, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Current affiliation:Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich
Education: D.Chem., 1929, Czechoslovakia Institute of Technology
Major contributions: Synthesized adamantane and sulfanilamide; work in alkaloids; elucidated structures for nonactin, boromycin, ferrioxamins, and rifamycins; synthesized medium-sized ring compounds from dicarboxylic acid esters by acyloin condensation
Major prizes: 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1969 ACS Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry

John Francis Queeny
Aug. 17, 1859-March 19, 1933; born in Chicago
Education: Six years of public school
Major contributions: Founded Monsanto in 1901; first U.S. company to produce saccharin, at a time when German chemical companies were the only commercial source; commercialized a breakthrough in the 1920s of the manufacture of sulfuric acid with a vanadium catalyst instead of the then-usual and expensive platinum catalyst

John D. Roberts
Born June 8, 1918, in Los Angeles
Current affiliation: California Institute of Technology
Education: A.B., 1941; Ph.D., chemistry, 1944; both from the University of California, Los Angeles
Major contributions: Mechanisms of carbocationic and aromatic displacement (benzyne) reactions; chemistry of small-ring compounds; substituent effects on chemical reactivity; molecular orbital calculations; applications of nuclear (especially carbon-13 and nitrogen-15) magnetic resonance spectroscopy to organic chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, and biochemistry
Major prizes: 1987 Priestley Medal; 1989 Welch Award in Chemistry; 1994 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; member, National Academy of Sciences

Robert Robinson
Sept. 13, 1885-Feb. 8, 1975; born near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1905, Ph.D., 1909; both from the University of Manchester
Major contributions: Electronic theory of organic reaction mechanisms; total synthesis of natural products, especially alkaloids and steroids; theory of alkaloid biogenesis; structural elucidation of penicillin
Major prizes: 1947 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1953 Priestley Medal; fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry; foreign member, National Academy of Sciences

Glenn T. Seaborg
Born April 19, 1912, in Ishpeming, Mich.
Current affiliation: University of California, Berkeley
Education: A.B., 1934, University of California, Los Angeles; Ph.D., chemistry, 1937, University of California, Berkeley
Major contributions: One of the discoverers of plutonium (plutonium-238 and plutonium-239) and headed the Manhattan Project group that devised the chemical extraction processes used in its production; codiscovered nine other transuranium elements, including element 106, seaborgium

Major prizes: 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1979 Priestley Medal; 1991 National Medal of Science; 1994 ACS George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education; member, National Academy of Sciences

Karl Barry Sharpless
Born April 28, 1941, in Philadelphia
Current affiliation: Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.
Education: A.B, 1963, Dartmouth College; Ph.D., organic chemistry, 1968, Stanford University
Major contributions: Discovery and development of many widely used catalytic oxidation processes, notably first general methods for stereoselective oxidation- the Sharpless reactions for the asymmetric epoxidation, dihydroxylation, and aminohydroxylation of olefins
Major prizes: 1983 ACS Award for Creative Organic Synthesis; 1991 Scheele Medal, Sweden; 1992 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; 1993 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis; member, National Academy of Sciences

Richard E. Smalley
Born June 6, 1943, in Akron, Ohio
Current affiliation: Rice University, Houston
Education: B.S., 1964, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; M.A., 1971, Princeton University; Ph.D., 1973, Princeton University
Major contributions: Pioneered advances in development of supersonic beam laser spectroscopy, super-cold pulsed beams, and laser-driven sources of free radicals, triplets, and metal and semiconductor cluster beams; discovered and characterized fullerenes, the third elemental form of carbon; first to generate fullerenes with metals trapped inside carbon cage; studies of carbon nanotubes
Major prizes: 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1991 ACS Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics; 1992 Welch Award in Chemistry; 1993 William H. Nichols Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Hermann Staudinger
March 23, 1881-Sept. 9, 1965; born in Worms, Germany
Education: University of Halle, Germany
Major contributions: Principles of macromolecular chemistry; fundamental studies of polystyrene, polyesters, polyamides, vinyl amides, and amino plastics, which laid the foundation for the giant plastics industry today; discovery of ketene
Major prizes: 1953 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Gilbert Stork
Born Dec. 31, 1921, in Brussels, Belgium
Current affiliation: Columbia University
Education: B.S., 1942, University of Florida; Ph.D., chemistry, 1945, University of Wisconsin
Major contributions: Enamine alkylation and acylation; metalloenamine alkylation; theory of concerted polyene cyclization; regiospecific enolate formulation and kinetic trapping; vinyl radical cyclization; radical holoacetal cyclization in control of regio- and stereochemistry; temporary silicon connection in stereo- and regiocontrol; first stereorational synthesis (cantharidin in 1951)
Major prizes: 1980 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; 1983 National Medal of Science; 1993 Welch Prize in Chemistry; 1996 Wolf Prize in Chemistry; member, National Academy of Sciences

Henry Taube
Born Nov. 30, 1915, in Neudork, Saskatchewan
Current affiliation: Stanford University
Education: B.Sc., 1935, University of Saskatchewan; Ph.D., 1940, University of California, Berkeley
Major contributions: First determination of the solvation number of cations; correlation of substitution lability of metal complexes with electronic structure; intimate mechanisms of electron transfer in chemical reactions; systematic study of mixed-valence molecules and of back-bonding in relation to properties of metal complexes
Major prizes: 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1983 Welch Award in Chemistry; 1985 Priestley Medal; 1985 National Medal of Science; member, National Academy of Sciences

Max Tishler
Oct. 30, 1906-March 18, 1989; born in Boston
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1928, Tufts University; Ph.D., chemistry, 1934, Harvard University
Major contributions: Worked as an industrial chemist at Merck & Co. for 33 years and developed antibiotics, including actinomycin and streptomycin; facilitated commercial production of cortical steroids; synthesized vitamin A and riboflavin; led the Merck team that developed a production process for penicillin during World War II
Major prizes: 1970 Priestley Medal; 1987 National Medal of Science

Harold Clayton Urey
April 29, 1893-Jan. 5, 1981; born in Walkerton, Ind.
Education: B.S., 1917, University of Montana; Ph.D., chemistry, 1923, University of California, Berkeley
Major contributions: discovery of deuterium; isotope separation
Major prizes: 1934 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1964 National Medal of Science; 1973 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

James Dewey Watson
Born April 6, 1928, in Chicago
Current affiliation:Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
Education: B.S., 1947, University of Chicago; Ph.D., 1950, Indiana University
Major contributions: Determined structure of DNA; DNA-protein interactions; role of RNA in protein synthesis
Major prizes: 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; 1977 Presidential Medal of Freedom; member, National Academy of Sciences

Frank H. Westheimer
Born Jan. 15, 1912, in Baltimore
Current affiliation: Harvard University
Education: A.B., 1932, Dartmouth College; M.A., 1933, Harvard University; Ph.D., chemistry, 1935, Harvard University
Major contributions: Calculation of electrostatic effects in chemistry; molecular mechanics; mechanism of chromic acid oxidations; metal-ion and enzymatic decarboxylations; direct and stereospecific transfer of hydrogen in biochemical oxidation-reduction; pseudorotation in hydrolysis of phosphate esters; invention of photoaffinity labeling
Major prizes: 1980 National Academy of Sciences Award in the Chemical Sciences; 1982 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; 1986 National Medal of Science; 1988 Priestley Medal; member, National Academy of Sciences

Geoffrey Wilkinson
July 14, 1921-Sept. 26, 1996; born in Todmorden, England
Education: B.Sc., 1941; Ph.D., 1946; both from Imperial College, London
Major contributions: Chemistry of metallocenes; chemistry of phosphorus halides, fluxional compounds, rhenium, rhodium, and ruthenium; chemistry of complex hydrides; mechanism of homogeneous catalytic reactions
Major prizes: 1973 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; fellow, Royal Society; foreign associate, National Academy of Sciences

Saul Winstein
Oct. 8, 1912-Nov. 23, 1969; born in Montreal, Quebec
Education: A.B., 1934, University of California, Los Angeles; M.A., 1935, University of California, Los Angeles; Ph.D., 1938, California Institute of Technology
Major contributions: Mechanisms of organic reactions; physical organic chemistry; ion pairs; homoconjugation; homoaromaticity
Major prizes: 1970 National Medal of Science (awarded posthumously); member, National Academy of Sciences

Georg F. K. Wittig
June 16, 1897-Aug. 26, 1987; born in Berlin, Germany
Education: Ph.D., 1923, University of Marburg/Lahn, Germany
Major contributions: Wittig reaction for conversion of C=O to C=C, which is used to make beta-carotene, steroids, juvenile hormones and pheromones, and some prostaglandins and vitamins
Major prizes: 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Robert Burns Woodward
April 10, 1917-July 8, 1979; born in Boston
Education: Bachelor's degree, 1936; Ph.D., 1937; both from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Major contributions: Total synthesis of complex natural products, including vitamin B-12; organic structure determination; synthetic methods; biogenetic theory; conservation of orbital symmetry
Major prizes: 1965 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1964 National Medal of Science; 1973 ACS Arthur C. Cope Award; member, National Academy of Sciences

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow
Born July 19, 1921, in New York City
Current affiliation: Veterans Administration Hospital, Bronx, N.Y.
Education: A.B., Hunter College, 1941; Ph.D., 1945, University of Illinois, Urbana
Major contributions: Developed technique of radioimmunoassay
Major prizes: 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Karl Ziegler
Nov. 26, 1898-Aug. 11, 1973; born in Helsa, Germany
Education: Ph.D., 1920, Marburg University
Major contributions: Controlled polymerization of hydrocarbons through organometallic catalysts; catalytic system enabling low-pressure polymerization of ethylene to linear polyethylene; chemistry of carbon compounds; development of plastics
Major prizes: 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry