Herbert Charles Brown (May 22, 1912 – December 19, 2004) was an American chemist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work with organoboranes.

[3][4] Brown attended Crane Junior College in Chicago, where he met Sarah Baylen, whom he would later marry.

[4] In 1935 he left Wright and that autumn entered the University of Chicago, completing two years of studies in three quarters to earn a B.S.

On February 6, 1937, Brown married Baylen, whom he would later credit with sparking an interest in hydrides of boron that would eventually lead to the work for which he, together with Georg Wittig, would be awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1979,[3] and the following year received his degree as Ph.D..

He became an instructor at Chicago in 1939, and held the position for four years before moving to Wayne University in Detroit as an assistant professor.

[8] Brown was quick to credit his wife Sarah with supporting him and allowing him to focus on creative efforts by handling finances, maintaining the house and yard, etc.

[12] When Brown started his own research, he observed the reactions of diborane with aldehydes, ketones, esters, and acid chlorides.

They discovered that it could be formed by reacting lithium hydride with boron trifluoride in ethyl ether, allowing them to produce the chemical in larger quantities.

When Brown moved to Purdue University in 1947, he worked to find stronger borohydrides and milder aluminum hydrides that would provide a spectrum of reducing agents.

The team of researchers at Purdue discovered that changing the metal ion of the borohydride to lithium, magnesium, or aluminum increases the reducing ability.

[12] While researching these reducing agents, Brown's coworker, Dr. B. C. Subba Rao, discovered an unusual reaction between sodium borohydride and ethyl oleate.