Franz Sondheimer FRS (17 May 1926 – 11 February 1981) was a German-born British professor of chemistry. In 1960, he was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for his contributions to science.

Biography

Franz Sondheimer was born in Stuttgart on 17 May 1926, the second son of Max and Ida Sondheimer. His father ran the family glue manufacturing business. His elder brother, Ernst, was Professor of Mathematics at Westfield College. Having business connections in England, Max Sondheimer managed to get his family to London in September 1937. Sondheimer, knowing no English, began his schooling in England first at Southend and then at Hailey School in Bournemouth. In 1940, having passed Common Entrance, he attended the part of

Highgate School Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is a co-educational, fee-charging, private day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate Pre-Preparato ...

remaining in London, where he obtained School Certificate in nine subjects in 1942. A little over a year later he gained entrance to Imperial College, where he studied until the end of the war, coming top of his year in the final examination. He was awarded a PhD in 1948, having studied acetylenic compounds under the guidance of Ian Heilbron and E R H Jones. Sondheimer moved to Harvard in 1948, to join Woodward’s group in their project on steroid synthesis. He next moved, early in 1952, to

Syntex Laboratorios Syntex SA (later Syntex Laboratories, Inc.) was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in January 1944 by Russell Marker, Emeric Somlo, and Federico Lehmann to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yams called ''c ...

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to succeed

Carl Djerassi Carl Djerassi (October 29, 1923 – January 30, 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical chemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with Diane Wood Middlebrook. He is best known for his ...

as head of research. During his four year stay he helped create short direct routes to cortisone, and to all of the major sex hormones. He thoroughly enjoyed his time there and was much loved and respected. He explored much of the region in his own

Beechcraft Bonanza The Beechcraft Bonanza is an American general aviation aircraft introduced in 1947 by Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. The six-seater, single-engined aircraft is still produced by Beechcraft and has been in continuous productio ...

aircraft. In 1956, aged 30, Sondheimer was appointed head of the Department of Organic Chemistry at the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

. He set up a strong team and “reverted to his old love, acetylene chemistry, as the basis for his most original and fundamental contribution, the chemistry of the annulenes.” In 1963 he accepted, and then rejected, the offer of a prestigious professorship at the University of Chicago, accepting instead one of the newly created Royal Society Research Professorships at the University of Cambridge. He had considerable freedom, set up a large international group, and was made a Fellow of

Churchill College Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

. Nonetheless, he was not happy at Cambridge and transferred in 1967 to

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. In May of that year he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. 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.'' However, funding problems, the difficulty of recruiting foreign postdoctoral students, and his continued focus on now-unfashionable areas of research, all contributed to this not being a satisfactory chapter in his career. Franz Sondheimer suffered from prolonged depression. He died on 11 February 1981 in his office at Stanford’s Stauffer Laboratory, where he had been on sabbatical. He had apparently committed suicide by taking cyanide. Sondheimer's notable students include K. C. Nicolaou, Raphael Mechoulam, Timothy Walsgrove, and Henry N. C. Wong.

Awards and honours

* 1960:

, in exact sciences. * 1961: Corday-Morgan medal and Prize. * 1967: Fellow of the Royal Society.

References

External links

Biography on UCL website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sondheimer, Franz 1926 births 1981 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Harvard Fellows British organic chemists Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Jewish scientists Academics of University College London Academics of Imperial College London Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge People educated at Highgate School Israel Prize in exact science recipients Israel Prize in exact science recipients who were chemists Academic staff of Weizmann Institute of Science British expatriates in the United States British expatriates in Israel Scientists from Stuttgart 1981 suicides Suicides by cyanide poisoning

Biography

Awards and honours

See also

References

Further reading

External links