Chemical Education Today

JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 76 No. 12 December 1999 • Journal of Chemical Education 1627

A Fifty-Year Love Affair with Organic Chemistry

William S. Johnson. Profiles, Pathways, and Dreams: Auto-biographies of Eminent Chemists, Vol. 20, Jeffrey I. Seeman,Series Editor. American Chemical Society: Washington, DC,1998. xxvii + 229 pp. Illustrations. 15.7 × 23.3 cm. ISBN0-8412-1834-X. $34.95.

This latest volume is the 20th in Jeff Seeman’s projected22-volume series of autobiographies of 20th-century organicchemists that began publication in 1990 (Kauffman, G. B.J. Chem. Educ. 1991, 68, A21). Unfortunately, Johnson didnot live to see this volume in print. Ted Bartlett and RayConrow reviewed the final manuscript, galleys, and pageproofs; and Ted Bartlett, Paul Bartlett, John D. Roberts, andGilbert Stork contributed an epilogue that complementsJohnson’s own words, adds a warm, personal final touch thathe was unable to provide, and incorporates his final researchinto the volume.

Born in New Rochelle, New York, on February 24, 1913,William Summer Johnson attended Amherst College with theaid of a scholarship and various odd jobs such as tendingfurnace, washing dishes, and playing saxophone in dance bands(he seriously considered becoming a professional musician).Here he became enamored with organic chemistry, which hetaught as an instructor for a year after his graduation magnacum laude in 1936. He then worked with a fellowship underLouis Fieser, who sparked his interest in steroids, at HarvardUniversity, from which he received his M.A. (1938) andPh.D. (1940) degrees.

In 1940 Johnson joined the faculty at the University ofWisconsin, where he rose through the ranks, eventuallybecoming Homer Adkins Professor of Chemistry (1954–60).He began the total synthesis of steroids, the main subject ofhis life’s work, “which soon proved to be the hottest synthetictarget of the time”. In 1960 he accepted an invitation tobecome head of and to upgrade the Stanford University

Chemistry Department. With faculty recruiting as his primaryconcern, he was able to add Carl Djerassi, Paul J. Flory,Harden M. McConnell, Henry Taube, and Eugene E. vanTamelen to the department, resulting in its spectacular risefrom 15th to 5th place in the nation. He remained at Stanfordfor the rest of his career, serving as department head for nineyears. He died at the age of 82 on August 19, 1995.

Johnson’s book reads like a Who’s Who of Organic Chemis-try, with descriptions, impressions, and thumbnail sketches ofsuch luminaries as Sir Robert Robinson, Robert B. Woodward,Gilbert Stork, Carl Djerassi, Derek Barton, John D. (“Jack”)Roberts, and authors of other Profiles volumes. During his longand productive career, Johnson made many contributions tocontemporary organic chemistry, the genesis and course ofwhich he describes lucidly with extensive use of 110 structuralformulas, 75 reaction schemes, and occasional laboratorynotebook pages. Three hundred fifty-six graduate and un-dergraduate students, postdocs, and visiting professors (manyof whom are shown in the 63 formal and informal photo-graphs in the book) have worked with him through five anda half decades. In “Some Concluding Remarks about OurResearch”, Johnson states, “The reviewed research did notevolve from a master plan; indeed it was largely a matter offollowing one’s nose and trying to look at things that relatedto areas that were regarded as important issues of the time.”

Johnson’s intimate and revealing autobiography willnot only appeal to synthetic organic chemists but will be ofinterest to both present and future generations of students andinstructors of chemistry courses and the history of science aswell as to all persons concerned with the human aspects ofscience.

George B. Kauffman and Laurie M. KauffmanDepartment of ChemistryCalifornia State University, FresnoFresno, CA 93740-8034

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