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Brief Biography of William von Eggers Doering
Born in Fort Worth, Texas on 22 June 1917, his parents were
both musicians, and met while they were both studying music in Leipzig.
When World War I broke out, they moved to the United States, and
his father became a vital statistician. His father eventually got
a job teaching at Harvard University's School of Public Health,
and the family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Doering was influenced
by his teachers during his early education to pursue science. After
graduating from high school, Doering attended Harvard University,
where he was inspired to major in chemistry. At Harvard, he took
courses with Arthur Lamb, Louis Fieser, Elmer Kohler, and Paul Bartlett.
Kohler encouraged Doering to continue on to graduate school, so
he earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Harvard in 1943. During
his years as a graduate student, he did some research with Louis
Fieser on new explosives, including trinitrobenzylnitrate, as well
as anti-mustard gas work with Eric Ball. After he completed his
graduate work, he joined Robert B. Woodward's team at Harvard, who
was attempting to synthesize quinine. Less than a year later, Doering
took an instructorship at Columbia University, but continued with
the quinine project in his free time. Doering outlines his relationship
with Woodward, the difficulties of the quinine work, and the impact
of that research on his career. Doering spent nine years at Columbia
before moving on to Yale University in 1952. While at Columbia,
he helped to establish the Hickrill Chemical Research Foundation,
which focused on postdoctoral research. It was there that Doering
did most of his work on carbene. In the 1960s, he was asked to join
the Board of Leo Szilard's new organization, Council for a Livable
World. For over fifteen years, Doering was active in lobbying for
this organization. Throughout his career, Doering was also a consultant
for various companies. At Yale, Doering became Director of the Division
of Sciences, and began to realize that administrative duties were
taking too much time from his research. He planned to go to the
University of Karlsruhe, but Woodward offered him a position at
Harvard. Doering concludes the interviews with a discussion of his
graduate students, his colleagues, and his interactions with Fudau
University in China.
Columbia University
1943-1945 Instructor
1945-1948 Assistant Professor
1948-1952 Associate Professor
1947-1969 Director of Research, Hickrill Chemical Research Foundation
Yale University
1952-1956 Professor
1956-1967 Whitehead Professor
1962-1965 Director of the Division of Sciences
Council for a Livable World
1962-1973 Chairman, Board of Directors
1973-1978 President
Harvard University
1967 Professor
1968-1986 Mallinckrodt Professor of Organic Chemistry
1986- Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry Emeritus
Internet: http://www.chem.harvard.edu/
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