Louis F. Fieser Harvard University Cambridge 38, Massachusetts
Innovations in Writing, Teaching, and Experimentation
There is nothing very new about writing a book, but perhaps some novelty can be claimed for the production with Mary Fieser of about a dozen books, including a succession of attempts to present the fundamentals of organic chemistry to various student groups until about all possible titles had been exhausted. Our "Organic Chemistry" (1944) (I) was a by-product of World War 11,when I was obliged to give up teaching and ordinary research to work on incendiary bombs and military medicine. War projects took me on 197 outof-town trips in this country and one in Europe, and there were many delays in transportation, with waits in hotels, stations, and military bases, in addition to the time spent in travel by train and plane. I regretted being separated from teaching, and when Mary agreed to keep me supplied with literature notes to take on trips, I started in April, 1942 to work on a textbook of organic chemistry utilizing otherwise idle time. Eventually Mary's supply exceeded my rate of production, and she took up authorship and wrote some of the best chapters in the book. In an earlier period I had become interested in the then emerging field of steroids through researches on carcinogenic hydrocarbons starting with a synthesis with Arnold M. Seligman of methylcholanthrene, a hydrocarbon discovered by others as a product of the degradation of bile acids and cholesterol, and found capable of inducing neoplastic growths in test animals. A 338page monograph of 1936 entitled "Chemistry of Natural Products Related to Phenanthrene" (2) was followed a year later by a second edition reviewing some 300 additional papers. Then, with the advent of the war and work on our textbook, I fell hopelessly behind the mounting tide of steroid literature. Mary, however, rose nobly to the occasion and on her own initiative laid the way for a revision of my boolc by studying and summarizing countless papers that eventually were cited in a third edition of "Phenanthrene," published under joint authorship in 1949 (8). By a stroke of luck, the book appeared within a few months of the announcement of the dramatic application of cortisonein therapy, and hence became available a t a time of greatly en-
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The 1967 ACS Award in Chemical Education sponsored by the Laboratory Appmatu~tusand Optical Section of the Scientific A p paratus Makers Association was presented to Louis F. Fieser at the 153rd Meeting of the ACS at Miami, March 1967. Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Hsnrrtrd University, Professor Fieser is well known for his meny excellent textbooks, for his significant contributions to the technique of organic chemistry, and for his research in steroids and in other areas of synthetic organic chemistry.
490
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Journal of Chemical Educafion
hanced interest in steroids when there was a pressing need for clarification of a highly confused literature. A 1959 book in this series is actually a fourth edition of "Phenanthrene" hut bears the title "Steroids" (4) since the 945-page coverage of this field alone left no room for other phenanthrenoid products (alkaloids, resin acids). Our most novel venture in writing is not about science hut deals with the art of writing scientific papers and books: "Style Guide for Chemists" (1960) (5), for which my life-time co-worker is largely responsible. The latest Fieser-Fieser book will appear shortly, and is entitled "Reagents for Organic Synthesis" (6). This 1457-page volume describes the preparation and uses of 1,100reagents. Figure 1 shows some of the steps in the arduous task of preparing the indexes.
Figure 1 .
A book index in the moking.
An award such as the one now conferred upon me may name an individual as recipient, but actually honors the whole team or group responsible. In the case of the books cited, the team clearly is that of Fieser and Fieser. It is a pleasure to acknowledge with thanks and affection the contribution of my co-worker, co-author, and wife, Mary. Unique Contributions of a Monograph
A monograph describing a special field while it is still in the course of development may present an opportunity for contributing to the progress. The now familiar u,pconvention for indicating the orientation of substituents in the steroid nucleus (Fig. 2) was proposed
0=DC+O
;P
7 7
a-C=C-
