George Ledlie Prize

George Hees Ledlie was born at Palatine Bridge, New York and attended private schools and colleges to prepare for Harvard, from where he graduated in 1884.

[1] In 1909 he reported to Harvard in a hand-written note that his full name had become George Ledlie – thus dropping his middle name Hees, the maiden name of his mother.

"[2] Robert Burns Woodward, Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry, as the University's "leading contributor to science and the benefit of mankind," was the first person awarded the newly established George Ledlie Prize.

It was given based on his research into the synthesis of quinine, and analyses and syntheses of increasingly complicated molecules, including cholesterol, cortisone, lysergic acid (LSD), strychnine, reserpine, and chlorophyll.

[3] The Ledlie Prize has been awarded in fields as diverse as chemistry, entomology, sociology, education, physics, and molecular biology.