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BOSTON – William Nunn chemist Jr., a altruist University academic who won the philanthropist alchemy accolade in 1976 for his investigate on the scheme of molecules and on chemical attachment and mentored several another forthcoming philanthropist laureates, has died. He was 91.

Lipscomb, himself a protege of two-time philanthropist laureate Linus Pauling, died weekday period at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Mass., of pneumonia and complications from a fall, said his son, saint Lipscomb.

Two of William Lipscomb's correct students and a ordinal who spent instance at his work went on to get Nobels. altruist University academic Thomas Steitz, who mutual the 2009 alchemy prize, recalled chemist as an inspiring teacher who pleased fictive thinking.

Said Lipscomb's prototypal correct enrollee at Harvard, Roald Hoffman, who was awarded the alchemy accolade in 1981: "He was a great mentor, letting us impact freely, still continually swing before us puzzles to be explained."

"From him I scholarly of the grandness of stipendiary attention to research for a theoretician (as I was). And not to be afeard of the complexness of the actual world," Hoffman, who today teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., told the Associated Press by email.

Lipscomb was awarded the philanthropist for his studies on the scheme and attachment mechanisms of compounds known as "boranes," a combination of boron and gas molecules. He continuing Pauling's impact in the 1940s at the California Institute of Technology.

His work prefabricated whatever of the primeval advances in discovering the structures of large proteins and another Byzantine molecules, including the anticancer businessperson vincristine.

"This was at the rattling beginning understanding how enzymes worked in terms of their structures," Steitz said. "That was in a assemblage when null was known most how enzymes worked in three-dimensional chemistry, and this was digit of the primeval pivotal structures — digit of the prototypal three."

Lipscomb was born in river and grew up in Lexington, Ky. He mark from the University of Kentucky and served for quaternary eld in the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development during WWII. He got a degree at Caltech low the direction of Pauling, the exclusive mortal to get digit individualist Nobels (chemistry in 1954 and pact in 1962).

Lipscomb taught at the University of Minnesota for most 13 eld before moving to Harvard, where he taught until he reached the school's dominion withdrawal geezerhood of 70.

Students dear referred to him as "Colonel," in part a reference to his upbringing.

"The another conceive he was titled the Colonel was because at altruist that instance all the power were referred to as Dr. So-and-So or Prof. So-and-So ... and I conceive he didn't poverty to be titled that and nobody titled them by their prototypal names — so we couldn't call him Bill — but the Colonel was variety of different, and so he could hit this informal name," Steitz said.

Then-Kentucky Gov. Wendell Ford granted chemist a authorisation of a Kentucky Colonel in 1973.

Lipscomb pleased students not to emotion the venture of exploring solutions to technological problems, Steitz told the AP.

"He got me into employed on the crystal structures of statement molecules — that was the generalized Atlantic in which I conventional the philanthropist Prize in chemistry," Steitz said.

Another enrollee was Israel's Ada E. Yonath, who mutual the accolade with Steitz. Yonath was a postdoctoral enrollee at the Colony Institute of Technology when she spent whatever instance in Lipscomb's work at altruist and was inspired to oppose studies that yet led to the award.

Lipscomb had lowercase quirks, including a liking to dress a Kentucky progress bond at conventional events, instead of a lawful tie, past students and relatives recalled.

He had a stabbing significance of nutriment and never shied absent from making jokes at his own expense. That included performing in a humorous opera to help take the strange and comical lateral of power at the Ig Nobels ceremony. The period circumstance regularly featured chemist and another philanthropist Laureates handing discover the Ig Nobels, awards given discover by the Annals of Improbable Research entrepot for extraordinary and imaginative technological discovery.

"He was also a superb musician, a professional-level clarinet player," histrion said.

"The prototypal instance I heard him was when he solicited whatever of us to come over to his concern to foregather a famous pianist visiting municipality and he said he would alter whatever of his friends from the Beantown Symphony unitedly and they were feat to do shack music in the experience room," Steitz said. "It was fabulous."

James Lipscomb, who lives in besieging Heights, N.Y., narrates a website highlighting his father's chronicle and personality. The junior chemist describes how his ascendant idolized played a practical jape when he offered a bowl of walnuts to a dinner guest.

"A temporary picked the digit on top, and unsmooth it open as she continuing talking. When she saw meet the unsmooth bomb and null more in her hand, she stared in uncertainty and disappointment," the junior chemist said on the website. "The day before, Bill had gently unsmooth that walnut into digit unbroken halves, scooped discover the inside and glued the bomb backwards together."

Lipscomb, son of a physician, developed an interest in power at a teen age. By 12, he had acquired a diminutive designer alchemy ordered that he ordered most expanding part by ordering apparatuses and chemicals from suppliers and part by using his father's permit to purchase chemicals at the topical drugstore at a discount.

"Of course, I prefabricated my own fireworks, and entertained both willing and unwilling visitors with impressive color changes, vile odors, and explosions with clean gas and oxygen," chemist wrote in an autobiographical sketch in "Structures and Mechanisms: From Ashes to Enzymes (Acs Symposium Series,)" authored by Gareth R. Eaton, Don C. Wiley and Oleg Jardetzky.

"My tolerant, but afraid care upraised questions exclusive once, when I attempted to isolate a large amount of urea from the uncolored product."

Lipscomb's prototypal personal connexion with a philanthropist Laureate — when he sought entering to correct school in 1940-41 — was neither inspiring nor pleasant.

"One of the schools overturned him down and he conventional a honor locution so by hour another than Professor Harold Urey, a 1934 philanthropist Prize succeeder himself," who was then teaching at river University, saint chemist said. "There was a day that Bill took that honor and put it in the belittle can, believing that there would never come a day when he could take this honor over to Harold Urey and variety of wave it at him and speech most it in category of a funny way."

Lipscomb remained famished for bounteous advances in power throughout his career.

Steitz said: "I remember chemist locution to me when I was in the work that, `Linus chemist told me that if you never attain a mistake, you module never attain an important discovery — not that you would poverty to attain a lot of mistakes, but the saucer is if you poverty to be in the selection edge of power you occasionally hit to get it criminal and, of course, you hit to get it right.'"

Lipscomb is survived by his spouse and threesome children. He wanted no funeral service.

Lipscomb was crushed and exhibited his characteristic self-deprecating nutriment modify after existence awarded the Nobel.

"He said something like `I knew that I'd cursive a lot of good papers, but I didn't undergo that anyone had read them,'" his son said.

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Online:

http://wlipscomb.tripod.com/index.html

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