Born Apr. 10, 1917, in Boston, Mass. American organic chemist. Member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Woodward graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936. In 1937 he began working at Harvard University, becoming a professor in 1950. Woodward synthesized complex and biologically important organic compounds, including quinine (1944), cortisone (1951), reserpine (1956), chlorophyll (1960), and tetracycline (1962). He also determined the structure of many important natural compounds, among them, strychnine, Terramycin, Aureomycin, Magnamycin, and tetrodoxin. Woodward carried out a number of important investigations on the mechanism of organic reactions. He received the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his work on the synthesis of biologically important organic compounds.