Donald Cram
Donald Cram
Donald James Cramwas an American chemist who shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jean-Marie Lehn and Charles J. Pedersen "for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity." They were the founders of the field of host-guest chemistry...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth22 April 1919
CountryUnited States of America
american-scientist character feeling formulas line sheet
One can't, just by writing out line formulas on a two-dimensional sheet of paper, get a feeling for the three-dimensional character of a compound.
levels chemistry inspired
Few scientists acquainted with the chemistry of biological systems at the molecular level can avoid being inspired.
fog should-have ideas
An investigator starts research in a new field with faith, a foggy idea, and a few wild experiments. Eventually the interplay of negative and positive results guides the work. By the time the research is completed, he or she knows how it should have been started and conducted.
reading looks research
I have always felt that I understood a phenomenon only to the extent that I could visualise it. Much of the charm organic chemical research has for me derives from structural formulae. When reading chemical journals, I look for formulae first.
careers sailing might
This is largely the methodology I've used throughout my career - that is, starting with a question as to what might be the properties of a set of compounds that could be invented which were unusual and unpredictable. Many times I've felt a bit like Columbus setting sail.
years fields fascination
To retain my fascination with chemistry, I have had to change my research fields about every 10 years.