[1][2] He was a pioneer in the field of anesthetic pharmacology, assisting in the development of two breakthrough drugs, Nembutal and Pentothal.
They lived on a farm near the intersection of Layhigh and Robinson roads in Morgan Township, Butler County, Ohio.
[citation needed] He then spent a year teaching in a country school, to earn money for university.
His first job at Abbott Laboratories was to recreate the German sedative Veronal, for use in World War I hospitals.
Volwiler was able to meet the demand, successfully synthesizing Barbital and overseeing its production in spite of shortages of time, people and equipment.
[9] Volwiler was a pioneer in the field of anesthetic pharmacology, assisting in the development of two breakthrough drugs, the barbiturates Nembutal and Pentothal.
[10] Nembutal, developed by Ernest H. Volwiler and Donalee L. Tabern of Abbott Laboratories in 1930, was a novel barbiturate that could induce sleep within 20 minutes.
[13] In the mid 1930s, Volwiler and Tabern spent three years screening over 200 candidate compounds in search of a substance which could be injected directly into the blood stream to produce unconsciousness.
[15] Sodium thiopental was first used in humans on 8 March 1934 by Ralph M. Waters in an investigation of its properties, which were short-term anesthesia and surprisingly little analgesia.
[11] For a time after World War II, pentothal was valued in some forms of psychotherapy for this disinhibiting effect.
"[1][20]In the 1940s and 1950s, Volwiler led the company as it expanded into areas such as radiopharmaceuticals.,[21] the treatment of epilepsy, and the development of the non-caloric sweetener Sucaryl for use in diabetic diets.
From 1958 to 1964, Volwiler served a six-year term on the National Science Board, appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
[23] Volwiler was an active community leader and philanthropist serving, among others, on the boards of Lake Forest College and the Phi Kappa Tau Foundation.
[35][36] Abbott established the Volwiler Society in his honor in 1985 to recognize the company's most distinguished scientists and engineers.