chemistry

Gilbert Stork

Gilbert Stork is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gilbert Stork rather than just read about it. In short: Gilbert Stork (December 31, 1921 – October 21, 2017) was a Belgian-American organic chemist. For a quarter of a century he was the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Columbia University.

Key takeaways

Gilbert Stork belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gilbert Stork to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gilbert Stork from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gilbert Stork (December 31, 1921 – October 21, 2017) was a Belgian-American organic chemist. For a quarter of a century he was the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Columbia University. He is known for making significant contributions to the total synthesis of natural products, including a lifelong fascination with the synthesis of quinine. In so doing he also made a number of contributions to mechanistic understanding of reactions, and performed pioneering work on enamine chemistry, leading to development of the Stork enamine alkylation. It is believed he was responsible for the first planned stereocontrolled synthesis as well as the first natural product to be synthesised with high stereoselectivity. Stork was also a mentor of young chemists with many of his students going on to make significant contributions in their own right.

Early life Gilbert Stork was born in the Ixelles municipality of Brussels, Belgium on December 31, 1921. The oldest of 3 children, his middle brother Michel died in infancy, but he remained close with his younger sister Monique his whole life. His family had Jewish origins, although Gilbert himself didn't recall them being religiously active. The family moved to Nice when Gilbert was about 14 (circa. 1935) and remained there until 1939. During this period, Gilbert completed his lycée studies, distinguishing himself in French literature and writing. Characterizing himself during those years as "not terribly self-confident," and uncertain whether he could find employment in a profession he enjoyed, Gilbert considered applying for a colonial civil service job in French Indochina. However, the outbreak of World War II that year led the family to flee to New York, where his father's older brother, Sylvain, had already emigrated.

Education Gilbert studied for a Bachelor of Science at the University of Florida, from 1940 to 1942. He then moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison for this PhD, which he obtained in 1945 under the supervision of Samuel M. McElvain. While at Wisconsin he met Carl Djerassi, with whom he would go on to form a lasting friendship.

Career 1946 Harvard University: Instructor; 1948 Assistant Professor 1953 Columbia University: Associate Professor; 1955 Professor; 1967–1993 Eugene Higgins Professor; *1993 Professor Emeritus

Elected to U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1961 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1962 Foreign Member of the French Academy of Sciences, 1989 American Philosophical Society, 1995 The Royal Society, UK 1999

Incidents

The explosive steak During his time at the University of Wisconsin, Stork kept a steak on his windowsill in the winter in order to keep it refrigerated. The steak began to degrade and to dispose of it Stork put it in a hot acid bath used to clean glassware which contained nitric and sulphuric acids. He was then concerned he would produce nitroglycerine due to the glycerine in the steak and the presence of nitric and sulphuric acids. However, due to the high temperature of the bath, the oxidation of glycerol was much faster than the nitration of glycerin thus preventing the formation of explosives.

Awarded Honorary Fellowship or membership Chemists' Club of New York, 1974 Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, 1973 Chemical Society of Japan, 2002 Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, 1983 Chairman Organic Division of the American Chemical Society, 1966–1967

Awards Professor Stork received a number of awards and honors including the following:

Stork also held honorary doctorates from Lawrence University, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the University of Paris, the University of Rochester, and Columbia University. The inaugural Gilbert Stork Lecture was held in his honor in 2014 at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Gilbert Stork named lecture series are also held at other institutions, including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, as a result of his endowments. He was fêted for his sense of humor and colorful personality by historian of chemistry Jeffrey I. Seeman who published a collection of "Storkisms".

References

External links Finding aid to the Gilbert Stork papers at Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gilbert Stork

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gilbert Stork claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gilbert Stork before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gilbert Stork ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gilbert Stork

In research: Gilbert Stork appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gilbert Stork in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gilbert Stork is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1921 births, 2017 deaths, 21st-century American Jews, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gilbert Stork outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gilbert Stork in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gilbert Stork means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gilbert Stork out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gilbert Stork in simple terms?

Why does Gilbert Stork matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gilbert Stork?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gilbert Stork.