WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Anecdotes about the late Herbert C. Brown are circulating like electrons this week as dozens of the Nobel laureate’s former students and others working in his field of chemistry gather at Purdue University.
Stories about Brown’s work with boron compounds and his personal philosophy and generosity are sandwiched between academic talks during the H.C. Brown Centennial Celebration, which continues through Saturday. The West Lafayette chemist, who died in 2004, would have turned 100 this year.
“He opened up a whole field in organometallic chemistry,” said George Kabalka, a University of Tennessee professor and doctorate student under Brown from 1965 to 1970. “There was an earlier reaction called the grignard, and Brown opened it up so the chemistry could be used for agriculture, medicine and more. That’s why he won the Nobel Prize.
“He had this knack for looking at a situation, analyzing it and deciding which path to take.”
Brown’s work made him one of the prominent chemists of the 20th century. Brown also is recognized for mentoring two 2010 Nobel winners, Purdue’s Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki of Sapporo University. Both are on campus this week for the event, which includes an exhibit of Brown’s papers and 29th H.C. Brown Lectures on Saturday.
Negishi, who continues to conduct research at Purdue, remembered when he first saw Brown speak in 1962, when Negishi was a student at the University of Pennsylvania.
“When I heard him, I told myself, ‘This is it. This is the area I want to explore and study.’ ”
Negishi was a postdoctoral associate with Brown from 1966 to 1968 and then his research assistant through 1972. After Negishi returned to Purdue in 1979, the two remained close until Brown’s death.
Brown, who joined the Purdue faculty in 1947, is best known for his pioneering work with boron compounds.
His discoveries revolutionized synthetic organic chemistry and led to the creation of many organic compounds, including such medications as the antidepressant Prozac and the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor.
Brown received the Nobel Prize in 1979 with German chemist Georg Wittig of the University of Heidelberg.
Even though Brown retired in 1978 and went off-salary at Purdue, he continued to work in his lab or his office, keeping up a daunting pace of writing, publishing and corresponding with students.
Surendra Kulkarni, research director at SABIC Research & Technology in India, worked with Brown from 1973 until 1982. During a viewing Thursday of Brown’s papers and memorabilia at the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center, Kulkarni and others talked of Brown’s kindness and the care his wife, Sarah, bestowed on many students. The Browns were known to help students obtain visas, find jobs and make sure their lives were in order. When former students returned to West Lafayette, a spare room at the Brown’s home was readily available.
Kulkarni was invited, along with Negishi, to attend the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1979. Brown paid for everything during the 15-day trip.
Brown taught Kulkarni and others a philosophy for research and life.
“Just doing a narrow research in chemistry is not enough. Like when he discovered a reagent, he found an easier way to make it so others could use it,” Kulkarni said.
He later added wisdom Brown shared with him and others: “‘In life, if you are looking for high targets, there are going to be failures. You can’t take life that seriously. You win some, you lose some.’ That has helped me. … Some miserable failures help you continue.”
Kulkarni said Brown told him many times that if his industry career didn’t work out, he could return to Purdue.
A display honoring Brown was unveiled Thursday on the second-floor hall of Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry. More than 100 people crammed into the hallway to see Negishi and Suzuki cut a ribbon inaugurating the display.
A similar display was made for Negishi in 2010.
Paul Shepson, head of the Department of Chemistry, said it was right that so many students who Brown taught and mentored could be in West Lafayette to honor him. The display helps ensure that future generations will appreciate him as well, he said.
“What really is important is students being handed a wide array of challenges that they are going to have to solve over the next 100 years or so see this example,” he said.
“That with determination and high expectations, and within the setting of a great university like Purdue, you can go far. You can solve problems and do great things. That is one of the things that Herb has taught us.”
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Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com
