Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

Elias James Corey

Personal Life

Family

Childhood

  • Married Claire Hingham in 1961 in Massachusetts.
  • They have 3 children together
  • David Reid Corey in 1963, who has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from harvard, and his PhD in chemistry from Berkely, CA. currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemistry/Molecular Biology at the University of California Medical School at San Francisco.
  • John Corey in 1965, graduated from Harvard (A.B. 1987) and the Paris Conservatory of Music (1990) and is now carrying out advanced studies in classical music composition at the latter institution.
  • Susan Corey, 1968, graduated from Harvard with a major in anthropology (A.B. 1990) and plans graduate work in Education
  • Claire and Elias live near the Harvard Campus in Cambridge, as they have for nearly thirty years. His leisure interests include outdoor activities and music. He is still a harvard professor, specializing in organic chemistry.

Sources

  • In 1928 Elias James Corey was born in Methuen, Massachusetts
  • Father Elias Corey, businessman in Massachusetts, very successful. Mother, Fatina (née Hasham) Corey
  • Lebanese descent. He grew up with a brother, two sisters growing up, and his widowed mother. His aunt Nasiby and uncle John Saba moved in with his family in 1931 during the Great Depression.
  • Saint Lawrence O'Toole elementary school from ages 5-12.
  • independent and loved to play football
  • Lawrence Public High School 13-16
  • Graduated in the summer of 1945 at the age of 16; enrolled in MIT right after
  • Studied math, english and history, engineering, etc. Played football

http://chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/press.html

College

  • MIT- 1945 to 1950
  • He began as a major in engineering and was required to take Chemistry, Physics, and math for basic science.
  • After taking chemistry he realized his passion for the science and switched his major.
  • After graduating in the spring of 1950, entered graduate program to research Synthetic Penicillin with his professor John C. Sheehan at MIT for 6 months.

Post College

  • No graduate school- went straight from graduating to entering the graduate program with John Sheehan
  • Synthetic Penicilin
  • No PhD

Retrosynthetic Analysis

Accomplishments

  • Organic Chemistry-broke down chemical formulas to find a specific synthesis that is used in a series of pharmaceuticals

Awards

  • starting from the planned structure of the molecule one wishes to produce, the target molecule, and analyzing what bonds must be broken, thus simplifying the structure step by step
  • Priestley medal in 2004
  • Japan prize
  • Wolf prize in chemistry- 1986
  • Franklin medal
  • Guggenheim fellowship for natural science- 1956
  • National medal of science for chemistry- 1988
  • NAS Award in Chemical Sciences- 2002

Nobel Prize

Author of more than 1000 scientific publications

  • Books: "The Logic of Chemical Synthesis", "Molecules and Medicine", and "Enantioselective Chemical Synthesis".
  • His research spans all areas of the chemistry of carbon compounds, and especially synthetic and biological chemistry.

He won the nobel prize in Chemistry winner of 1990 for his “development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis". This major contribution is also known as Retrosynthetic Analysis

Effects

  • With Organic synthesis, Corey production produced complicated organic compounds using simple and cheap material
  • Corey's most important total syntheses concern eicosanoids such as prostaglandins, prostacyclins, thromboxanes and leucotrienes
  • answer for multifunctional and vital functions for reproduction, blood coagulation, normal and complex processes in the immune system, etc.

Today

  • In the last 40 years, Corey has developed a series of complex, naturally occuring syntheses
  • In 1978 he produced gibberellic acid which belongs to a class of very important plant hormones of complicated structure.
  • Recently, he has also synthesized ginkgolid, an active substance in an extract from the ginkgo tree, used as a folk medicine in China. The sales value of this natural product is believed to amount to $500 million annually.

Career

Harvard

  • After having a year’s sabatical and moving to harvard in the fall of 1957, Corey made major discoveries in his research towards chemical synthesis, for the molecule longifolene, and prostaglandins.
  • professorship- 1959- current. research includes synthesis of complex, bioactive molecules; the logic of chemical synthesis; new methods of synthesis; molecular catalysts and robots; theoretical organic chemistry and reaction mechanisms; organometallic chemistry; bioorganic and enzyme chemistry; prostaglandins and other eicosanoids and their relevance to medicine;

University of Illinois

  • 1951 to 1959
  • From 1951-1954 studied physical organic chemistry as an assistant professor with a few graduate students working with him
  • From 54-56 he continued his research more in depth, this time focusing on structure, stereochemistry and synthesis of natural products
  • In 1956 he was appointed a professor of chemistry for his hard work, and remained in Illinois until 1959, where he studied enantioselective synthesis, metal complexes, new reactions for synthesis and enzyme chemistry.

By Blake Nutis

Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi