He played football as an undergraduate, and in his senior year he became team captain and was chosen to play end on the Indiana All-State team. In June of 1926 Stanley graduated with a bachelor of science degree. His ambition was to become a football coach, but the course of his life was changed forever when an Earlham chemistry professor invited him on a trip to Illinois State University. Here, he was introduced to Roger Adams, an organic chemist, who inspired him to seek a career in chemical research. Stanley applied and was accepted as a graduate assistant in the fall of 1926.
In graduate school, Stanley worked under Adams, and his first project involved finding the stereochemical characteristics of biphenyl, a molecule containing carbon and hydrogen atoms. His second assignment was more practical; Adams was interested in finding chemicals to treat leprosy, and Stanley set out to prepare and purify compounds that would destroy the disease-causing pathogen. Stanley received his master's degree in 1927 and two years later was awarded his Ph.D. In the summer of 1930, he was awarded a National Research Council Fellowship to do postdoctoral studies with Heinrich Wieland at the University of Munich in Germany.
This is a free page. This page contains 194 words. This
biography contains 1,583 words (approx. 5 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Wendell Meredith Stanley Access Pass.
