Frank H. Westheimer

Frank Henry Westheimer (1912-2007) was an American chemist born in Baltimore, Maryland, who helped found physical organic chemistry by applying the methods of physical chemistry to organic and biochemical systems, particularly enzyme catalysis mechanisms and kinetic isotope effects. He taught the University of Chicago's first course in physical organic chemistry between 1936 and 1954, then moved to Harvard University in 1953, becoming Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry in 1960, chairing the department from 1959 to 1962, and retiring as professor emeritus in 1983. He developed the Kirkwood-Westheimer model for the electrostatic analysis of organic acids, helped establish molecular mechanics as a field, gave the first demonstration of enzymatic discrimination between enantiotopic hydrogen atoms, and wrote the influential 1987 paper Why Nature Chose Phosphates. He received the National Medal of Science in 1986 and the Priestley Medal in 1988.