Franz Sondheimer

Franz Sondheimer ( born May 17, 1926 in Stuttgart, † February 11, 1981 in Stanford ( California)), was a British chemist of German origin.

Life and work

Sondheimer emigrated in 1937 from persecution by the Nazis with his family to Britain. He studied chemistry at Imperial College in London.

In 1948 he worked with Robert B. Woodward at Harvard University. In 1952 he took over the previously held previous history of Carl Djerassi place at the firm Syntex. In 1956 he was appointed to the Israeli Weizmann Institute. In 1963 he returned to the UK at the University of Cambridge, after which he went in 1967 to London's University College.

His research was the synthesis of steroids and of annulenes.

Among his famous students include, in particular Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou and Raphael Mechoulam.

He died in 1981 during a sabbatical at Stanford University.

Awards

• Chemists ( 20th century)
• Support of the Israel Prize
• Emigrant from the German Empire at the time of National Socialism
• Member of the Royal Society
• Briton
• Born in 1926
• Died in 1981
• Man