Frank Westheimer

Frank Henry Westheimer (January 15, 1912 – April 14, 2007) was an American chemist. He was the Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Harvard University, and the Westheimer medal is named in his honour. Born in Baltimore, he graduated from Dartmouth College and earned his doctorate in chemistry from Harvard in 1935. He was a member of President Lyndon Johnson's science advisory committee from 1967 to 1970. He also chaired the National Aca... more

Frank Henry Westheimer (January 15, 1912 – April 14, 2007) was an American chemist. He was the Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Harvard University, and the Westheimer medal is named in his honour. Born in Baltimore, he graduated from Dartmouth College and earned his doctorate in chemistry from Harvard in 1935. He was a member of President Lyndon Johnson's science advisory committee from 1967 to 1970. He also chaired the National Academy of Sciences Committee for the Survey of Chemistry. Westheimer started his doctoral research with James Bryant Conant. When Conant became president of Harvard, he abandoned research and Westheimer finished his Ph.D. with E.P. Kohler. He continued as a postdoctoral fellow with physical chemist Louis P. Hammett at Columbia who developed the field of physical organic chemistry, an area that captured Westheimer's interest. His first academic appointment was as a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Chicago. Here he was influenced by... less