Lewis Hastings Sarett

He was born in Champaign, Illinois. His father was Lew Sarett, a renowned Jewish poet and professor and an uncle of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He lived in Laona, Wisconsin, for a time and then attended high school in Highland Park, Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University in 1939, graduating in the honors society Phi Beta Kappa and got a doctorate from Princeton University. He worked for Merck & Co. for 38 years retiring in 1982. He invented a Process of Treating Pregnene Compounds Cortisone, Patent Number 2,462,133. Named after him is the Sarett Oxidation which is the oxidation of an alcohol to a ketone or an aldehyde using chromic oxide and pyridine. Primary alcohols will be oxidised to aldehydes and not carboxylic acids. ==Writing career==

His father, also Lew Sarett, is famous for writing the poem The Four Little Foxes to raise awareness about animal rights. ==Honors and awards==

• 1964 Scheele Award • 1972 Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists • 1975 National Medal of Science • 1976 Perkin Medal • 1980 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame • 1980 Awarded the IRI Medal from the Industrial Research Institute for his contributions to technology leadership • 1981 American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal ==References==