[1] Sturtevant was Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Molecular Biophysics, and Biochemistry at Yale University.
[2] Born in New Jersey to Edgar Howard Sturtevant, a linguistics professor at Yale University, and Bessie Fitch Skinner, the family descends from Samuel Sturtevant, an early settler of Plymouth Colony.
Sturtevant obtained his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 1927, and his Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry from Yale in 1931.
Sturtevant was known for applying thermochemistry to the study of biology, and pioneered the collection of kinetic data for studying organic chemical reactions and designed unique calorimeters that allowed for more accurate heat measurements long before high-precision ones became available.
[4] His former student and Rutgers professor Kenneth Breslauer credited him for having "...practically founded the field of biothermodynamics.