Alastair Ian Scott (10 April 1928 in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

– 18 April 2007) was a British-American

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

who achieved international renown for elucidating the biosynthetic pathway of

vitamin B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. One of eight B vitamins, it serves as a vital cofactor (biochemistry), cofactor in DNA synthesis and both fatty acid metabolism, fatty acid and amino a ...

. He occupied successive chairs of organic chemistry at the universities of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, and

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

before moving to

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

in 1977. In 1980 he occupied th
Forbes chair of organic Chemistry
at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He was named a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry in 1981 at Texas A&M University, and remained there until the end of his career. In 1964 he won the Corday-Morgan Medal of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

(RSC). He was awarded the 1975

Ernest Guenther Award The Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products is an American Chemical Society (ACS) award in the field of the chemistry of natural products. The purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage outstanding achievements in the ana ...

and the 1994 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award by the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

(ACS). He gave the RSC Centenary Lecture in 1994 and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Bakerian Lecture The Bakerian Medal is one of the premier medals of the Royal Society that recognizes exceptional and outstanding science. It comes with a medal award and a prize lecture. The medalist is required to give a lecture on any topic related to physical ...

in 1996. He took the Tetrahedron Prize (1995), the RSC Natural Products Award (1996), the

Welch Award in Chemistry The Welch Award in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Robert A. Welch Foundation, based in Houston, Texas, to encourage and recognize basic chemical research for the benefit of mankind. The award, which has been given since 1972, is one of th ...

(2000), the

Davy Medal The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a monetary gift, initially of £1000 (currently £2000). Re ...

(2001), the Queen's Royal Medal of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

(2001), and the ACS Nakanishi Prize (2003). He was Texas Scientist of the Year in 2002. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

and the European Academy of Sciences. In addition, he was an honorary member of the Japanese Pharmacological Society.

Personal life

Alastair Ian Scott married Elizabeth Wilson Walters at the University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel, on 4 March 1950. They had two children: Anne and William. Alastair died in Texas on 18 April 2007, following a heart attack. He was survived by his wife, two children and six grandchildren. Elizabeth died at her home in

Grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...

on 13 September 2016, aged 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Alastair Ian 1928 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American chemists 20th-century Scottish chemists British organic chemists Fellows of the Royal Society American organic chemists