Call Number:

34

Repository:

Science History Institute Archives

Extent:

0.5 linear feet (1 hollinger box)

Language Note:

Most of the materials in this collection are in English. Also includes small amounts of materials in German and Swedish.

Preferred Citation:

Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Robert B. Woodward Papers, 1951-1992, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1951-1992 (inclusive)

Creator:

Woodward, R.B. (Robert Burns), 1917-1979 and Škarić, Vinko, 1923-2006

Form:

Archival materials

Abstract:

Correspondence, manuscripts, reprints, printed materials, and miscellaneous materials pertaining to American organic chemist and Nobel Prize winner Robert B. Woodward. The materials in this collection were collected and maintained by Croatian chemist Vinko Škarić.

Robert Burns Woodward (1917-1979) was an American organic chemist and 1965 Nobel Prize winner. Born in Quincy, Massachusetts on April 10, 1917, Woodward earned his B.S. (1936) and Ph.D. (1937) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1937, following a short stint teaching at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he accepted a position at Harvard University's Chemistry Department, where he remained for the rest of his life. At Harvard, he initially served as a Postdoctoral Fellow (1937-1938) and a Member of the Society of Fellows (1938-1941).

In 1941, Woodward joined the Harvard Chemistry Department faculty. He rose through the Chemistry Department's ranks, serving as Instructor (1941-1944), Assistant Professor (1944-1946), Associate Professor (1946-1950), Professor (1950-1953), Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry (1953-1960), and Donner Professor of Science (1960-1979). In addition to his faculty duties, he also served as Director of the Woodward Research Institute in Basel, Switzerland.

Over the course of his scientific career, Woodward became a renowned specialist in the synthesis of organic substances. During the early 1940s, he employed ultraviolet spectroscopy to determine the molecular structures of natural products, including penicillin and strychnine. In 1944, Woodward and his post-doctoral researcher William von Eggers Doering became the first to synthesize quinine. In the early 1950s, Woodward and British chemist Geoffrey Wilkinson conducted research that led to the synthesis of ferrocene, which marked the beginning of the field of transition metal organometallic chemistry. By the mid-1960s, Woodward had successfully synthesized a number of other organic substances, including cortisone, strychnine, and chlorophyll. For his work in synthesizing complex organic substances, Woodward was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1965.

During the mid and late 1960s, Woodward worked with Polish-American chemist Roald Hoffman in developing the laws of the conservation of molecular orbital symmetry. Their work in this area, subsequently verified by many experiments, became known as the Woodward-Hoffman Rules. In 1972, Woodward and Swiss organic chemist Albert Eschenmoser succeeded in synthesizing Vitamin B12.

Robert B. Woodward authored numerous papers and journal articles over the course of his career. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he was the recipient of many other awards, including the National Medal of Science (1964) and the Royal Society's Copley Medal (1978).

Robert B. Woodward died of a heart attack in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 8, 1979.

Sources

Papers of Robert Burns Woodward, Harvard University Archives, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Robert B. Woodward Collection, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Nobel Prize. "Robert B. Woodward, Biographical." https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1965/woodward/biographical/.

Arranged in its original order, the Robert B. Woodward Collection is a collection of miscellaneous archival materials concerning the life and scientific career of American organic chemist and 1965 Nobel Prize winner Robert B. Woodward. The materials in this collection were compiled and maintained by Croatian chemist Vinko Škarić. Subjects covered in this collection include Woodward's work in organic chemical synthesis, his research on inorganic superconductivity, and the Nobel Prize.

The contents of the Robert B. Woodward Collection consist of a variety of materials. Correspondence, manuscripts, reprints, and various printed materials are the most common materials found in this collection. Small amounts of other miscellaneous materials, including, but not limited to, drawings, notes, and qualifying examinations are preserved here as well.