Melvin Spencer Newman (Mel) was born on Mach 10, 1908 in New York City. He received his B.S. degree magna cum laude in 1929 and his Ph.D. in 1932 from Yale University. He did postdoctoral research work at Yale University, Columbia University, and Harvard University. He joined the Department of Chemistry at the Ohio State University in 1936, where he remained until the end of his academic career.<br/>In 1956, he edited the book “Steric Effects in Organic Chemistry”. He also published “An Advanced Organic Laboratory Course” in 1976.<br/>He reported the Newman projection formulas in his seminal paper published in 1952. This paper earned him recognition in the field of organic chemistry. His name is known to every student taking organic chemistry and learning about Newman projections.<br/>Professor Newman served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Organic Syntheses, and Synthetic Communications.  He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He received many honors for his scientific work, including the Roger Adams Award from the American Chemical Society, the Morley Medal from the Cleveland ACS section, the Columbus Section Award, the Cross Medal from Yale University, and the Sullivan Medal from The Ohio State University.<br/>In the presentation, we will show his most significant contributions to organic chemistry and the significance of teaching Newman projections in the introductory organic chemistry course.

Melvin S. Newman’s contributions to organic chemistry

ACS Fall 2021

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