Robert West (chemist)

Robert Culbertson West Jr. (March 18, 1928 – October 12, 2022) was an American chemist.

West was an E. G. Rochow Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison; Director of the Organosilicon Research Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison 1999–20??; President, Silatronix, Inc. (2007–20??); Distinguished Professor, Yonsei University, 2007–2011. He died in Madison, Wisconsin on October 12, 2022, at the age of 94.^[1]

Education

West received his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Cornell University in 1950, proceeding on to Harvard University where he received his Master of Arts in 1952 and Ph.D. in 1954. At Cornell, he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society.

Notable work

West was a chemist best known for his groundbreaking research in

West was an instrument-rated pilot with over 2500 hours as pilot-in-command. He was a mountaineer, with over 50 first ascents in the mountains of British Columbia. He was known for his eccentric lifestyle, liberal political views, and activism for women's reproductive rights both in the US and internationally. In 1972, along with Anne Nicol Gaylor, he co-founded the Women's Medical Fund to help Wisconsin women pay for abortions.^[2]

His international interests led to extensive collaborative research with chemistry departments in major universities in countries including Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Mexico, Norway and Russia. Many of his over 600 publications were in collaboration with scientists in countries outside the USA.

References

External links

• University of Wisconsin faculty biography
• New battery technology helps stimulate nerves, University of Wisconsin news
• A tribute to professor Robert West, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements