Nelson Leonard

Biochemist; born September 1, 1916; died October 9, 2006.

NELSON J Leonard, who went from developing antimalarial drugs during the Second World War to decades of research into the fundamentals of life, has died aged 90.

Leonard, who retired from the University of Illinois in 1986, died in California, where he had worked at the California Institute of Technology since 1992.

In more than 40 years at the University of Illinois, Leonard published in excess of 400 scientific papers and was considered a master in applying organic synthesis to solving problems in chemistry, biochemistry and plant physiology.

He was a native of Bronxville, NewYork, and graduated from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, before attending Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. His time in England was cut short by the outbreak of the war.

Leonard earned his PhD from Columbia University in 1942 for work on a naturally occurring antimalarial compound, which brought him to the attention of the military.

He joined a team researching the synthesis and production of the important antimalarial drug, Chloroquine, in time for its use in the Pacific theatre.

Leonard later spent time in Europe as a consultant and special investigator for Army Intelligence and the US Department of Commerce.

(c) 2006 Herald, The; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.