Calvin L. Stevens
Calvin Lee Stevens (November 3, 1923 – November 26, 2014) was an American chemist. He was a professor of organic chemistry at Wayne State University, and is known for being the first to synthesize the drug ketamine.[citation needed]
Early life and education
Stevens was born in Edwardsville, Illinois, to Arthur Allen Stevens and Irma E. Ambuehl.[1] He earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Illinois, and in 1947 a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in the field of substituted ketene acetals and related orthoesters.[2]
Career
Stevens received a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the staff of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, in 1948 and became a full professor of chemistry there in 1954.[3] He subsequently served as chairman of the chemistry department,[4][5] Vice President for Research, and Interim Provost to the University.
In 1958 he was a member of the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service organization.[6]
Stevens received a Guggenheim Fellowship at the Sorbonne in 1955. He served as a Scientific Officer for the U.S. Embassy in London in 1959.
In 1962, while a consultant at the Parke-Davis Laboratories, he synthesized the drug ketamine,[7][8] which is commonly used as a general anesthetic.
Stevens received two Fulbright Fellowships in 1964 and 1971. He was a tenured Professor Associe at the University of Paris VI. In 1982 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Nancy. [citation needed]
Stevens died on November 26, 2014, at the age of 91.[9]
References
- ^ Lebensdaten nach American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004,
- ^ Directory of Graduate Research. American Chemical Society. 1963. p. 389.
- ^ Evelyn Aschenbrenner (9 April 2009). A History of Wayne State University in Photographs. Wayne State University Press. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-8143-3567-3.
- ^ "The Rewards Of Intellectual Bigamy" .The Scientist. Virginia Morell | January 23, 1989.
- ^ "Arveson, Thomas Nominated". Chemical & Engineering News. 40 (39). American Chemical Society: 90–92. 1962. doi:10.1021/cen-v040n039.p090.
- ^ "Scientis Confident Cure will be Found". Spokane Daily Chronicle - Dec 17, 1958 page 3
- ^ Domino, EF (September 2010). "Taming the ketamine tiger". Anesthesiology. 113 (3): 678–84. doi:10.1097/ALN.0b013e3181ed09a2. PMID 20693870.
- ^ David E. Newton (2007). Chemistry of Drugs. Infobase Publishing. pp. 107–. ISBN 978-1-4381-0971-8.
- ^ "CALVIN STEVENS Obituary (2014) - Ann Arbor, MI - The Detroit News". www.legacy.com. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
- Norman L. Allinger, Don C. de Jongh, Carl R. Johnson, Norman A. Lebel, Michael P. Cava: Organische Chemie, 1. Auflage, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-11-004594-X.
