Raymond Urgel Lemieux. 16 June 1920 – 22 July 2000

Raymond Lemieux was one of the outstanding chemists of the second half of the twentieth century. During the four decades from 1950 onwards he dominated the field of carbohydrate chemistry. His rare and special degree of insight into chemical problems resulted in numerous seminal discoveries and observations that influenced organic chemistry extensively, and provided the area of carbohydrate chemistry—and its associated subjects—with extremely significant conceptual and experimental tools. His work was a determining factor in converting this field from an academic specialization into one of great practical importance in chemistry, biology and medicine. His influential role was recognized when, with 21 world-renowned chemists, he was invited by the American Chemical Society to write his autobiography. The highly engaging series of books, Profiles, pathways and dreams , documents the development of modern organic chemistry through the research careers of chemists who made fundamental contributions to organic chemistry over many decades of research. Lemieux's contribution, Explorations with sugars. How sweet it was , is an excellent account of his research from 1946 to 1990 (50)*.