Lewis Hastings Sarett
{{Short description|American organic chemist (1917–1999)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lewis Hastings Sarett
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = December 22, 1917
| birth_place = Champaign, Illinois
| death_date = {{death date and age|1999|11|29|1917|12|22}}
| death_place = Viola, Idaho
| occupation = Organic chemist
| spouse = Mary Adams Barrie (m. March 1, 1944 - div. June 28, 1969)
Pamela Thorp
| parents =
| children = Mary Nicole and Katharine Wendy (1st wife)
Will H. and Renee M. (2nd wife)
}}
Lewis Hastings Sarett (December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American organic chemist. While serving as a research scientist at Merck & Co., Inc., synthesized cortisone.
Biography
He was born in Champaign, Illinois. His father was Lew Sarett, a renowned Jewish poet and professor{{Cite web|url=https://www.beloit.edu/archives/documents/archival_collections/alumni/lew_sarett|title = Archives}} and an uncle of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.{{Cite web|url=http://www.miltrosenberg.com/show/donald-rumsfeld-on-rumsfelds-rules/|title=Donald Rumsfeld on Rumsfeld's Rules | Milt Rosenberg}} He lived in Laona, Wisconsin, for a time and then attended high school in Highland Park, Illinois . He received a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University in 1939 (Phi Beta Kappa) and his doctorate from Princeton University.
He worked for Merck & Co. for 38 years retiring in 1982. He invented a Process of Treating Pregnene Compounds Cortisone, Patent Number 2,462,133.
Named after him is the Sarett Oxidation which is the oxidation of an alcohol to a ketone or an aldehyde using chromic oxide and pyridine. Primary alcohols will be oxidised to aldehydes and not carboxylic acids.
Writing career
His father, also Lew Sarett, is famous for writing the poem The Four Little Foxes to raise awareness about animal rights.{{Cite web|url=https://www.all-creatures.org/poetry/ar-fourlittle.html|title=Four Little Foxes By Lew Sarrett: An Animal Rights Poem from All-Creatures.org|website=www.all-creatures.org|accessdate=27 April 2023}}
Honors and awards
- 1964 Scheele Award
- 1972 Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists{{cite web|url=http://www.theaic.org/award_winners/chem_pioneer.html#cpa60s|title=Chemical Pioneer Award|publisher=American Institute of Chemists|access-date= 30 November 2015}}
- 1975 National Medal of Science
- 1976 Perkin Medal
- 1980 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
- 1980 Awarded the IRI Medal from the Industrial Research Institute for his contributions to technology leadership
- 1981 American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/sarett-lewis.pdf Arthur A. Patchett, "Lewis Hastings Sarett", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2002)]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070219184825/http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/126.html Inventors hall of fame]
- [http://www.todayinsci.com/12/12_22.htm December 22 - Today in Science History - Scientists born on December 22nd, died, and events]
- [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E3D61139F934A15751C1A96F958260&sec=&spon= New York Times Obituary], December 27, 1999.
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Category:20th-century American chemists
Category:Jewish American scientists
Category:National Medal of Science laureates
Category:Scientists from Illinois
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:Northwestern University alumni
Category:People from Champaign, Illinois
Category:20th-century American inventors
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine
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