William Summer Johnson

William Summer Johnson ( born February 24, 1913 in New Rochelle, New York; † August 19, 1995 ) was an American chemist who in the United States in Organic Synthesis was in his time one of the leading chemists.

Johnson studied at the Amherst College and Harvard University, where he received his doctorate in 1940 with Louis Fieser. His studies he had to finance itself and worked as a saxophonist in dance bands or as a chemist at Eastman Kodak.

From 1940 he was Professor Instructor and 1946 (from 1950 Homer Adkins Professor ) at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. In 1958 he became a professor at Stanford University. 1960 to 1969 he headed the chemistry faculty, which he established by appointment of Carl Djerassi, Eugene van Tamelen, Henry Taube, Paul Flory, Harden McConnell and John Brauman one of the leading U.S.. From 1969 he was Jackson Wood Professor of Chemistry and Professor Emeritus in 1978.

Johnson come from the 1940s at the University of Wisconsin significant advances in methodology and control of organic synthesis, both in terms of the stereochemistry and the regiochemistry by introducing temporary blockade groups against undesirable reaction pathways. It dealt mainly with the synthesis of steroids, which he in his time at Stanford, new synthetic routes was based on the construction of ring structures of polyenes with carbocations.

Among the synthesized steroids are estrogens from horses ( Equilinin ), cortisone and aldosterone.

From 1948 he was co-editor of Organic Synthesis.

Honors

He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1954 ) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1963).