Calvin L. Stevens
{{Short description|American chemist}}
Calvin Lee Stevens (November 3, 1923 – November 26, 2014) was an American chemist. He was a professor of organic chemistry at Wayne State University, and is known for being the first to synthesize the drug ketamine.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}
Early life and education
Stevens was born in Edwardsville, Illinois, to Arthur Allen Stevens and Irma E. Ambuehl.Lebensdaten nach American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004, He earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Illinois, and in 1947 a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in the field of substituted ketene acetals and related orthoesters.{{cite book|title=Directory of Graduate Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4MlJV9Rb8kC|year=1963|publisher=American Chemical Society.|page=389}}
Career
Stevens received a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the staff of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, in 1948 and became a full professor of chemistry there in 1954.{{cite book|author=Evelyn Aschenbrenner|title=A History of Wayne State University in Photographs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KDzeSxqzusYC&pg=PA192|date=9 April 2009|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-3567-3|pages=192–}} He subsequently served as chairman of the chemistry department,[http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10120/title/The-Rewards-Of-Intellectual-Bigamy/ "The Rewards Of Intellectual Bigamy"] .The Scientist. Virginia Morell | January 23, 1989.{{Cite journal|doi=10.1021/cen-v040n039.p090|title=Arveson, Thomas Nominated|journal=Chemical & Engineering News|volume=40|issue=39|pages=90–92|year=1962|publisher= American Chemical Society|doi-access=free}} Vice President for Research, and Interim Provost to the University.
In 1958 he was a member of the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service organization.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19581217&id=YABYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FfcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7079,4067563&hl=en "Scientis Confident Cure will be Found"]. Spokane Daily Chronicle - Dec 17, 1958 page 3
Stevens received a Guggenheim Fellowship at the Sorbonne in 1955. He served as a Scientific Officer for the U.S. Embassy in London in 1959.
In 1962, while a consultant at the Parke-Davis Laboratories, he synthesized the drug ketamine,{{cite journal |last= Domino |first= EF |title= Taming the ketamine tiger |journal= Anesthesiology |date= September 2010 |volume= 113 |issue= 3 |pages= 678–84 |pmid= 20693870 |doi= 10.1097/ALN.0b013e3181ed09a2 |doi-access= free }}{{cite book|author=David E. Newton|title=Chemistry of Drugs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nlEvCwG-1xoC&pg=PA107|year=2007|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0971-8|pages=107–}} which is commonly used as a general anesthetic.
Stevens received two Fulbright Fellowships in 1964 and 1971. He was a tenured Professor Associe at the University of Paris VI. In 1982 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Nancy. {{citation needed|date=January 2016}}
Stevens died on November 26, 2014, at the age of 91.{{Cite web|title=CALVIN STEVENS Obituary (2014) - Ann Arbor, MI - The Detroit News|url=https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/detroitnews/180779524|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.legacy.com|language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
- Norman L. Allinger, Don C. de Jongh, Carl R. Johnson, Norman A. Lebel, Michael P. Cava: Organische Chemie, 1. Auflage, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1980, {{ISBN|3-11-004594-X}}.
External links
- [https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=Calvin+L.++Stevens&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5 Google Scholar report]
- [http://academictree.org/chemistry/peopleinfo.php?pid=53264 Chemistry Tree]
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Category:People from Edwardsville, Illinois
Category:Wayne State University faculty
Category:University of Illinois alumni
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni