| Authorised form of name | Cornforth; Sir; John Warcup (1917 - 2013); chemist |
| Dates | 1917 - 2013 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Place of birth | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Australasia |
| Date of birth | 07 September 1917 |
| Place of death | Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, west Sussex, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of death | 08 December 2013 |
| Occupation | chemist |
| Research field | Organic chemistry |
| Activity | Education:
Sydney High School; University of Sydney. BSc (1937), MSc (1938). Oxford University (under 1851 Exhibition Overseas Scholarship, 1939), PhD (1941)
Career:
Worked on penicillin (during World War 2); joined National Institute for Medical Research (1946-1962); Director, Milstead Laboratory, Shell Research, Sittingbourne, Keny (1962); Visiting Professor, University of Sussex (1971); Royal Society Research Professor, School of Molecular Sciences, University of Sussex (1975-1982); 'Australian of the year' (1975); died of an ischaemic stroke.
Honours:
CBE 1972; Kt 1977
Medals and prizes:
Nobel Prize (Chemistry) 1975
Memberships:
Millennium FRSC (2000) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 19/03/1953 |
| Age at election | 35 |
| Proposer | A Robertson |
| Harold Warris Thompson |
| Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin |
| Howard Walter Florey |
| John Lionel Simonsen |
| Ian Morris Heilbron |
| Reginald Patrick Linstead |
| Wilson Baker |
| George Roger Clemo |
| Charles Robert Harington |
| Robert Robinson |
| RSActivity | Medals and prizes:
Davy Medal 1968; Royal Medal 1976; Copley Medal 1982 |
| Relationships | Parents: John William Cornforth, teacher of English and classics, and his wife, Hilda, née Eipper (1887–1969), a nurse.
Spouse: (1941) Rita Harradance, organic chemist, of Sydney.
Children: One son, two daughters. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 2070
RCN R82012
RCN R81891
RCN 8500
RCN 8499
RCN 8131 |
| OtherInfo | Distinguished as an Organic Chemist of outstanding originality and exceptional experimental skill, particularly in microchemical manipulation.
The first to attribute the correct constitution to penicillamine and to synthesise the amino-acid. After making significant contributions to the synthesis of penicillin he notably developed the chemistry of the oxazole group and made oxazole itself for the first time. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Source | Sources:
AE; DNB |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/163574147 |
| Code | NA319 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1953/06 | Cornforth, Sir, John Warcup: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/GA/WS/4431 | Cornforth, Sir John Warcup | nd |
| IM/GA/GRS/6692 | Cornforth, Sir John Warcup | nd |
| WF/540 | Grant application from the Dorothy Hodgkin Portrait Fund, University of Sussex to the Wolfson Foundation | 1977 |
| COR | Collected papers of Sir John Warcup Cornforth FRS, Nobel prize-winning chemist, and Lady Rita Cornforth, organic chemist | 1933-2016 |
| MDA/N/1/98 | Correspondence between John Warcup Cornforth and the Royal Society | 4 June 1958-17 February 1961 |