 herbert charles brown (may 22, 1912 â december 19, 2004) was a chemist and nobel prize in chemistry laureate for his work with organoboranes. ==life and career== brown was born herbert brovarnik in london, to ukrainian jewish immigrants from zhitomir, pearl (nee gorinstein) and charles brovarnik, a hardware store manager and carpenter. he moved to the united states in june 1914, at the age of two.  in autumn 1935, he entered the university of chicago, completed two years of studies in three quarters, and earned a b.s. in 1936. that same year, he became a naturalized united states citizen.  on february 6, 1937, brown married sarah baylen, the person he credits with making him interested in hydrides of boron, a topic related to the work in which he with georg wittig won the nobel prize in chemistry in 1979. two years after starting graduate studies, he earned a ph.d. in 1938, also from the university of chicago. unable to find a position in industry, he decided to accept an offer for a position as a post-doctorate. this became the beginning of his academic career. he became an instructor at the university of chicago in 19
1912_births 2004_deaths American_Nobel_laureates American_people_of_Ukrainian-Jewish_descent British_Nobel_laureates Deaths_from_myocardial_infarction English_Jews English_emigrants_to_the_United_States Inorganic_chemists Jewish_American_scientists Jewish_chemists National_Medal_of_Science_laureates Nobel_laureates_in_Chemistry People_from_London Purdue_University_faculty University_of_Chicago_alumni Wayne_State_University_faculty