Robert B. Woodward

Woodward became famous for total syntheses of complex molecules including quinine in 1944, cholesterol in 1951, strychnine in 1954, and chlorophyll in 1960. These projects helped prove that very complex natural products could be built by planned organic synthesis rather than only isolated from nature.

He received the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his achievements in organic synthesis. The Nobel citation emphasized his ability to design syntheses of complex natural products with unusual precision for the mid-20th century.

Woodward worked with Roald Hoffmann on orbital-symmetry rules explaining pericyclic reactions. Hoffmann received the 1981 Nobel Prize with Kenichi Fukui, while Woodward had died in 1979 and Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.

Woodward spent most of his career at Harvard University after earning his PhD from MIT in 1937. His Harvard group became one of the most influential organic chemistry laboratories of the 20th century.