Guy Ourisson

Ourisson Guy ( born March 26, 1926 in Boulogne- Billancourt, † November 3, 2006 in Strasbourg ) was a French chemist ( biochemistry, organic chemistry).

Ourisson studied 1946-1950 at the Ecole Normale Superieure in 1952 and from Harvard University with Louis Frederick Fieser doctorate (Ph. D., on terpenes ). 1954 followed the French doctorate at the Sorbonne in G. Dupont. In 1955 he became assistant professor ( maître de conférences ) at the University of Strasbourg and in 1985 professor. In 1995 he retired there. In 1971 he was a founder of the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg and its president from 1971 to 1976. He was active in the forum Carolus in Strasbourg and was a founder of the Cercle Gutenberg in Strasbourg.

It dealt among other things with the chemical evolution of biomembranes and the prebiotic chemistry of isoprenoids, triterpenes such as hopanoids in proteobacteria, chemotaxonomy (determination of plant species to there occurring chemical substances such as terpenoids ), with neurochemistry and cycloartenol ( a steroid precursor in plants ).

1981/82 he served as Director General of Higher Education (universities ) in the French Ministry of Education. 1985 to 1989 he was president of the Institut de chimie of substances naturelles ( ICSN ) of the CNRS in Gif- sur -Yvette. In 2001 he prepared a report about the dissatisfaction of French students about their training.

In 1959 he founded the Groupe d'Etudes de Chimie organique ( GECO ), organized conferences modeled after the Gordon Research Conferences.

He was a member of the Academie des Sciences, 1998/99, its vice- president and 2000/2001, its president since 1981. Ourisson was honorary doctorate from the ETH Zurich, received the Order of the Sacred Treasure in Japan, was commander of the Ordres des Palmes Académiques, the Ordre National du Mérite and the Legion of Honor. He was a member of the Royal Society. In 1987 he received the Gay - Lussac- Humboldt Award, 1969, he received the Otto -Wallach plaque, 1985 Heinrich Wieland Prize and the 1972 Ernest Guenther Award.

A price for the Cercle Gutenberg Alsatian for scientists under 40 years is named after him.

He had many students, including Jean -Marie Lehn.