Harry Stone Mosher

Harry Stone Mosher (August 31, 1915 – March 2, 2001) was an American chemist and the discoverer of Mosher's acid.

Early life

Mosher attended

While at Stanford, Mosher taught organic chemistry and conducted research in natural products chemistry and stereochemistry. He and his graduate student Melanchton Brown identified a deadly toxin produced by the California newt living in Stanford's Lake Lagunita, calling it tarichatoxin. They soon discovered that it was the same toxin produced by the puffer fish, used in a rare type of sushi that if prepared incorrectly could paralyze and kill human diners. Mosher determined the structure of the toxin, which is known as tetrodotoxin.^[2] Mosher worked on many other natural products including both plant pigments and toxic substances.

Mosher also invented the "Mosher reagent" or Mosher's acid, which is used to measure the degree of left- or right-handedness in organic molecules.

Awards and honors

Mosher received an honorary doctoral degree from Willamette University. Harry Mosher served as chair of the California section of the American Chemical Society in 1955 and on the ACS National Council, both elected positions. In 1978, Mosher received the Abraham Ottenberg Service Award from the ACS.^[3] Two years later, the ACS established the Harry and Carol Mosher Award to advance the field of chemistry.^[4]

Later life

Mosher retired from Stanford in 1981. He spent his later life engaged in tennis and skiing, and lunched regularly with his friends at the Rathskeller in the Stanford Faculty Club. He died in 2001, and was survived by his wife, their three children, and five grandchildren.^[1]

References