Lewis Hastings Sarett

Lewis Hastings Sarett (December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American organic chemist. While serving as a research scientist at Merck & Co., Inc., synthesized cortisone.

He was born in Champaign, Illinois. His father was Lew Sarett, a renowned Jewish poet and professor^[1] and an uncle of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.^[2] He lived in Laona, Wisconsin, for a time and then attended high school in Highland Park, Illinois . He received a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University in 1939 (Phi Beta Kappa) and his doctorate from Princeton University.

He worked for Merck & Co. for 38 years retiring in 1982. He invented a Process of Treating Pregnene Compounds Cortisone, Patent Number 2,462,133.

Named after him is the Sarett Oxidation which is the oxidation of an alcohol to a ketone or an aldehyde using chromic oxide and pyridine. Primary alcohols will be oxidised to aldehydes and not carboxylic acids.

His father, also Lew Sarett, is famous for writing the poem The Four Little Foxes to raise awareness about animal rights.^[3]

• 1964 Scheele Award
• 1972 Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists^[4]
• 1975 National Medal of Science
• 1976 Perkin Medal
• 1980 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
• 1980 Awarded the IRI Medal from the Industrial Research Institute for his contributions to technology leadership
• 1981 American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal

• Arthur A. Patchett, "Lewis Hastings Sarett", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2002)
• Inventors hall of fame
• December 22 - Today in Science History - Scientists born on December 22nd, died, and events
• New York Times Obituary, December 27, 1999.

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