Franz Sondheimer
Encyclopedia
Early life
Sondheimer was born in StuttgartStuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1926 and, following the rise of the Nazis, fled to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1937.
Education
He was a pupil at Highgate SchoolHighgate School
-Notable members of staff and governing body:* John Ireton, brother of Henry Ireton, Cromwellian General* 1st Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, owner of Kenwood, noted for judgment finding contracts for slavery unenforceable in English law* T. S...
and subsequently studied chemistry, receiving his degree from Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
.
Career
From 1949 to 1952, Sondheimer was a Research Fellow, Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
From 1952 to 1956, he was employed by Syntex
Syntex
Laboratorios Syntex SA was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in 1944 by Russell Marker to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yam....
SA, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, as Associate Director of Research.
In 1956, he moved to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and became Head of the Organic Chemistry Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science
Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science , known as Machon Weizmann, is a university and research institute in Rehovot, Israel. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only graduate and post-graduate studies in the sciences....
, Rehovot
Rehovot
Rehovot is a city in the Center District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.Rehovot was built on the site of Doron,...
from 1956 to 1964. In 1960, he was appointed Rebecca and Israel Sieff
Israel Sieff
Israel Moses Sieff, Baron Sieff was a British businessman.He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Manchester University. One of the theatres at the Manchester Grammar School is named in his honour....
Professor of Organic Chemistry at the institute, until 1964. While in Israel, he also held the post of Vice-President, Research, of Syntex SA from 1961 to 1963
After a stay of eight years, Sondheimer returned from Israel to Britain in 1964, and was appointed as Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
Research Professor, at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge
Churchill College, Cambridge
Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.In 1958, a Trust was established with Sir Winston Churchill as its Chairman of Trustees, to build and endow a college for 60 fellows and 540 Students as a national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston Churchill; its...
, both from 1964 to 1967. In May 1967 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His membership citation read: Professor Sondheimer is distinguished for his work on the total synthesis of a range of natural products, the partial synthesis of steroid hormones and analogues, and especially for his syntheses of the hitherto unknown class of conjugated unsaturated macrocyclic compounds which has led to some interesting theoretical conclusions. On these topics he has so far published 167 papers.
From 1967 to 1981 he was Royal Society Research Professor, University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
. He died in 1981 while spending a sabbatical period at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Sondheimer's notable students include K. C. Nicolaou and Raphael Mechoulam
Raphael Mechoulam
Raphael Mechoulam is an Israeli professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel...
Awards and honours
- In 1960, Sondheimer was awarded the Israel PrizeIsrael PrizeThe Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
, in exact sciences. - In 1961, he received the Corday-Morgan medal and PrizeCorday-Morgan medalThe Corday–Morgan Medal and Prize is a prestigious award that has been made annually by the Royal Society of Chemistry since 1949 for the most meritorious contributions to experimental chemistry, including computer simulation...
. - In 1967, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
External links
Further reading
- Who's WhoWho's Who (UK)Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...