Lewis Hastings Sarett

Lewis Hastings Sarett (December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American organic chemist. While serving as a research scientist at Merck & Co., Inc., synthesized cortisone.

Biography[]

He was born in Champaign, Illinois. His father was Lew Sarett, a renowned Jewish poet and professor^[1] and an uncle of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.^[2] He lived in Laona, Wisconsin for a time and then attended high school in Highland Park, Illinois . He received a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University in 1939 (Phi Beta Kappa) and his doctorate from Princeton University.

He worked for Merck & Co. for 38 years retiring in 1982. He invented a Process of Treating Pregnene Compounds Cortisone, Patent Number 2,462,133.

Named after him is the Sarett Oxidation which is the oxidation of an alcohol to a ketone or an aldehyde using chromic oxide and pyridine. Primary alcohols will be oxidised to aldehydes and not carboxylic acids.

Honors and awards[]

• 1964 Scheele Award
• 1972 Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists^[3]
• 1975 National Medal of Science
• 1976 Perkin Medal
• 1980 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
• 1980 Awarded the IRI Medal from the Industrial Research Institute for his contributions to technology leadership
• 1981 American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal

References[]

External links[]

• Lewis Hastings Sarett December 22, 1917–November 29, 1999 By Arthur A. Patchett
• Inventors hall of fame
• http://www.todayinsci.com/12/12_22.htm
• New York Times Obituary, December 27, 1999.

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