Robert Robinson

Robert Robinson was born on 13 September 1886 in Britain. He built his career dismantling and understanding the chemical architecture of two families of natural compounds: the anthocyanins that color petals and the alkaloids that make plants poisonous or medicinal. His research revealed how these molecules are constructed, laying groundwork for synthesizing them in the lab. In 1947 he received the Nobel Prize for that work, and the same year the United States awarded him the Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm. He was knighted for his contributions to chemistry. Robinson died on 8 February 1975.