Gilbert Stork

Gilbert Stork was a Belgian-American organic chemist, born in the Ixelles municipality of Brussels, Belgium, on December 31, 1921. His career began in 1946 as an instructor at Harvard University, where he became assistant professor in 1948, and in 1953 he moved to Columbia University as associate professor, becoming professor in 1955. For a quarter of a century he was the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Columbia. He is known for significant contributions to the total synthesis of natural products, including a lifelong fascination with the synthesis of quinine, and for pioneering work on enamine chemistry that led to the Stork enamine alkylation. He is believed to have been responsible for the first planned stereocontrolled synthesis and the first natural product synthesised with high stereoselectivity, and he mentored many young chemists. He died on October 21, 2017.