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Howard E. Zimmerman (July 5, 1926 – February 12, 2012) was a professor of chemistry at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
. He was elected to the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
in 1980 and the recipient of the 1986 American Institute of Chemists Chemical Pioneer Award.


Biography

Howard E. Zimmerman was a native of
Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he served in the U.S. Armored Corps in Europe where he was a tank gunner. His final rank was
technical sergeant Technical sergeant is the name of three current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States Armed Forces, as well as in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Outside the United States, it is used only by the Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, and ...
. He obtained a B. S. in Chemistry in 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1953 both from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with a National Research Council fellowship from 1953 to 1954 working with R. B. Woodward (Harvard). From 1954 to 1960 he was assistant professor at
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
. Beginning in 1960 he was Associate Professor and then Professor at the
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
, and from 1990 he was Hilldale and A. C. Cope Professor of Chemistry. His publications number over 285 (including 11 chapters). Zimmerman gave ACS Short Courses on organic
quantum chemistry Quantum chemistry, also called molecular quantum mechanics, is a branch of physical chemistry focused on the application of quantum mechanics to chemical systems, particularly towards the quantum-mechanical calculation of electronic contributions ...
and molecular orbital theory. He authored a 1975 textbook entitled ''Quantum Mechanics for Organic Chemists''. Zimmerman was the organizer of the 1972
IUPAC The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...
Photochemistry Symposium (
Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
) and of five Pacifichem Symposia – the last being Pacifichem 2010.


Honors

*
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
*
Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...
* 1950 The Chittenden Award given to the top B.S. graduate in the Yale class of 1950 *1971 The first Northeast ACS Award for Photochemistry *1976 The ACS James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry *1980 The Halpern Award of the New York Academy of Sciences *1980 Election to the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
*1986 Recipient of the American Institute of Chemists Chemical Pioneer Award *1988 A Senior Alexander von Humboldt Award *1990 Hilldale Award in the Physical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin * 1991 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award of the ACS * 2006 IUPAC Porter Medal for Photochemical Research


Selected bibliography

*"The Stereochemistry of the Ketonization Reaction of Enols," Zimmerman, H. E. J. Org. Chem., 1955, 20, 549-557. *"The Stereochemistry of the Ivanov and Reformatsky Reactions. I," Zimmerman, H. E.; Traxler, M. D. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1957, 79, 1920-1923. *"The Photochemical Rearrangement of 4,4-Diphenylcyclohexadienone. Paper I on a General Theory of Photochemical Reactions," Zimmerman, H. E.; Schuster, D. I. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1961, 83, 4486-4487. *"On Molecular Orbital Correlation Diagrams, the Occurrence of Möbius Systems in Cyclization Reactions, and Factors Controlling Ground and Excited State Reactions. I," Zimmerman, H. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1966, 88, 1564-1565. *"Photochemical Migratory Aptitudes in Cyclohexenones. Mechanistic and Exploratory Organic Photochemistry. XXIII," Zimmerman, H. E.; Rieke, R. D.; Scheffer, J. R. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1967, 89, 2033-2047. *"The Di-π-Methane Rearrangement. Interaction of Electronically Excited Vinyl Chromophores. Zimmerman, H. E.; Mariano, P. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1969, 91, 1718-1727. *"The Barrelene to Semibullvalene Transformation. Correlation of Excited State Potential Energy Surfaces With Reactivity. Mechanistic and Exploratory Organic Photochemistry. XLIV," Zimmerman, H. E.; Binkley, R. W.; Givens, R. S.; Sherwin, M. A.; Grunewald, G. L.; J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1969, 91, 3316-3323. . *"The Möbius-Hückel Concept in Organic Chemistry. Application to Organic Molecules and Reactions," Zimmerman, H. E. Acc. Chem. Res., 1971, 4, 272-280. *"Quantum Mechanics for Organic Chemists," Zimmerman, H. E. Academic Press, New York, 1975. *"Some Theoretical Aspects of Organic Photochemistry," Zimmerman, H. E. Accts. of Chem. Research, 1982, 10, 312-317. *"Kinetic Protonation of Enols, Enolates and Analogs; The Stereochemistry of Ketonization," Zimmerman, H. E.. Accounts of Chem. Res.', 1987, 20, 263-268. *"Regioselectivity of the Birch Reduction", Zimmerman, H. E.; Wang, P. A., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1993, 115, 2205-2216. *"The Meta Effect in Organic Photochemistry; Mechanistic and Exploratory Organic Photochemistry", Zimmerman, H. E., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 8988-8991. *"Synthetic Aspects of the Di-π-methane Rearrangement", Zimmerman, H. E.; Armesto, D. Chem. Revs, 1996, 96, 3065-3112. *"Energy Distribution and Redistribution and Chemical Reactivity. The Generalized Delta Overlap-Density Method for Ground State and Electron Transfer Reactions; A new Quantitative Counterpart of Electron Pushing”, Zimmerman, H. E.; Alabugin, I. V. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 121, 2265-2270 *“Inter and Intramolecular Stereoselective Protonation of Enols”, Zimmerman, H. E.; Wang, P., J. Org. Chem. 2002, 69, 9216-9226. *"Triplet Photochemistry of Vinyl Cyclopropenes; Mechanistic and Exploratory Organic Photochemistry", Zimmerman, H. E., J Org. Chem. 2009, 73, 1247-1251. .


References


External links


Howard Zimmerman: A Defining Influence on Organic Chemistry





IAPS Report, Porter Metal, Career

Awards


* ttp://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/153/3738/837.pdf Science article
Yale Chittenden Award

ACS Flack Norris Awards

AIC Chemical Pioneer Awards

Richard S. Givens, "Howard E. Zimmerman", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Howard 20th-century American chemists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1926 births 2012 deaths Photochemistry Academics from Connecticut University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers