Melvin Spencer Newman

Melvin Spencer Newman ( born October 3, 1908 in New York City; † May 30, 1993 in Columbus ) was an American chemist who was known by the introduction of Newman projection.

Life and work

Newman came from a Jewish family and was the grandson of Isidore Newman, banker and philanthropist from New Orleans. Newman was born in New York, but shortly thereafter the family moved to New Orleans. At 14, he moved back to New York, where he attended the Riverdale County School. Starting in 1925, studied chemistry at Yale University Newman where the working group of Rudolph J. Anderson for Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry he obtained his doctorate (Ph. D. in Chemistry ) in 1932. After post-doctoral stays at Yale, at Columbia University and Harvard University, he began his career at Ohio State University. In 1940 he was appointed Assistant Professor in 1944 and was appointed professor. His scientific achievements include contributions to the understanding of the carcinogenic properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ( PAHs) and studies of non-planar derivatives of this compound class. The first synthesis of hexahelicene and its resolution realized Newman.

In 1933 he married Beatrice Crystal, and they had two daughters and two sons. His sister, Alice Louise, was the first wife of Nikolai Tichonowitsch Berezovsky.

Honors and Awards

Newman was in 1956 elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. The American Chemical Society awarded him the 1961 Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry and the Morley Medal. The Yale University awarded him in 1975 the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal. The University of New Orleans in 1975 awarded him an honorary doctorate. The Sullivant Medal was awarded to him in 1976 by ​​the Ohio State University.

On a proposal by Albert Eschenmoser you named the Newman - voltage 1.5 describes the repulsion of non-hydrogen atoms, by M. S. Newman. The Newman - Kwart rearrangement bears his name.