Fieser, Mary

L. F.Fieser Mary Fieser, Organic Chemistry, Heath, Boston(1950)... 

Chemistry, Organic—Synthesis. 2. Chemical tests and reagents. I. Fieser, Mary A. Peters, 1909-joint author. II. Title. III. Title Fieser and Fieser s Reagents for organic synthesis. 

The task of relating carbohydrate configurations to names requires either a world class memory or an easily recalled mnemonic A mnemonic that serves us well here was pop ularized by the husband-wife team of Lours F Fieser and Mary Fieser of Harvard Uni versity m their 1956 textbook Organic Chemistry As with many mnemonics it s not clear who actually invented it and references to this particular one appeared m the chem ical education literature before publication of the Fiesers text The mnemonic has two features (1) a system for setting down all the stereoisomeric d aldohexoses m a logical order and (2) a way to assign the correct name to each one... 

Louis F. Fieser (1899-1977) was born in Columbus, Ohio, and received his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1924 with James B. Conant. He was professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College and then at Harvard University from 1930 to 1968. While at Bryn Mawr. he met his future wife, Mary, then a student. In collaboration, the two Fiesers wrote numerous chemistry texts and monographs. Among his scientific contributions, Fieser was known for his work in steroid chemistry and in carrying out the first synthesis of vitamin K. He was also the inventor of jellied gasoline, or napalm, which was developed at Harvard during World War II. 

In 1930, he entered Swarthmore College, receiving his B. A. in chemistry with high honors and Phi Beta Kappa. He played varsity lacrosse, was captain of the team and honorable mention All-American. He met his future wife and mother of his five children, Mary Elma White, while a junior at Swarthmore. They were married on June 1936, just after her graduation from Swarthmore and his from Harvard, where he received his Ph. D. in June 1936, finishing his doctoral thesis under Louis Fieser in only twenty months. His research resulted in four papers published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. That fall he... 

Louis Frederick Fieser, one of the most prolific contributors to Organic Syntheses, as well as a member of the Advisory Board and Editor-in-Chief of Volume 17, died on July 25, 1977, of pneumonia at his home in Belmont, Massachusetts. Fie is survived by his wife, Mary. 

Fieser published a total of 341 research papers, 36 of which with Mary, and over 20 books (the majority with Mary) which represent some of the very best writing found in science—clear, highly readable, elegant, and exciting. 

L. F. and Mary Fieser Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts... 

Vol. 9 by Mary Fieser, Rick L. Danhciscr, William Roush. 

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