Calvin L. Stevens

Calvin Lee Stevens (November 3, 1923 – November 26, 2014) was an American chemist. He was a professor of organic chemistry at Wayne State University, and is known for being the first to synthesize the drug ketamine.

Early life and education

Stevens was born in Edwardsville, Illinois, to Arthur Allen Stevens and Irma E. Ambuehl.[1] He earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Illinois, and in 1947 a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in the field of substituted ketene acetals and related orthoesters.[2]

Career

Stevens received a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the staff of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, in 1948 and became a full professor of chemistry there in 1954.[3] He subsequently served as chairman of the chemistry department,[4][5] Vice President for Research, and Interim Provost to the University.

In 1958 he was a member of the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service organization.[6]

Stevens received a Guggenheim Fellowship at the Sorbonne in 1955. He served as a Scientific Officer for the U.S. Embassy in London in 1959.

In 1962, while a consultant at the Parke-Davis Laboratories, he synthesized the drug ketamine,[7][8] which is commonly used as a general anesthetic.

Stevens received two Fulbright Fellowships in 1964 and 1971. He was a tenured Professor Associe at the University of Paris VI. In 1982 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Nancy.

Stevens died on November 26, 2014, at the age of 91.[9]

References
  1. Lebensdaten nach American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004,
  2. Directory of Graduate Research. American Chemical Society. 1963. p. 389.
  3. Evelyn Aschenbrenner (9 April 2009). A History of Wayne State University in Photographs. Wayne State University Press. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-8143-3567-3.
  4. "The Rewards Of Intellectual Bigamy" .The Scientist. Virginia Morell | January 23, 1989.
  5. "Arveson, Thomas Nominated". Chemical & Engineering News. American Chemical Society. 40 (39): 90–92. 1962. doi:10.1021/cen-v040n039.p090.
  6. "Scientis Confident Cure will be Found". Spokane Daily Chronicle - Dec 17, 1958 page 3
  7. Domino, EF (September 2010). "Taming the ketamine tiger". Anesthesiology. 113 (3): 678–84. doi:10.1097/ALN.0b013e3181ed09a2. PMID 20693870.
  8. David E. Newton (2007). Chemistry of Drugs. Infobase Publishing. pp. 107–. ISBN 978-1-4381-0971-8.
  9. "CALVIN STEVENS Obituary (2014) - Ann Arbor, MI - The Detroit News". www.legacy.com. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  • Norman L. Allinger, Don C. de Jongh, Carl R. Johnson, Norman A. Lebel, Michael P. Cava: Organische Chemie, 1. Auflage, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-11-004594-X.
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