http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/56362719

Oral history interview with Jerome A. Berson

Jerome Berson begins this interview with a discussion about his family, his early interest in chemistry, and his childhood in Florida. After high school, Berson attended college at City College of New York. He then attended Columbia University, where he received both his A.M. and Ph.D. Berson went on to do postdoctoral work at Harvard University. Berson held various academic positions at the University of Southern California, Wisconsin, and Yale. Berson credits William von Eggers Doering, Robert Burns Woodward, Saul Winstein, and Herbert Brown as all having profound influence on his career. He talks about his transformation from a natural-products chemist to a physical-organic chemist and the influence of the work of Erich Huckel. He discusses in some detail several of his major research efforts, and comments extensively on the importance of M.O. theory, funding, and the role of government in the support of science. Berson concludes the interview with thoughts on the present and future of organic chemistry and physical organic chemistry.

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