Evening star., 1937-06-20
STUDENT,2O, WINS
CHEMISTRY PHI. D.
Breaks All Scholastic Rec.
ords at Massachusetts
Tech.

BOSTON, Mass, June 10 (N.A.
MAJ He was first in a class Of
one"
This Is how professors at Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology rate
Robert Burns Woodward. who has
broken all scholastic records at the
institute by taking Phi. D. degree at
the age of 20.
The achievement was the more re-
markable in that Woodward attained
his goal after only four years of study
against the seven usually required; !;
and during this period much of his
time has been devoted to outside work
to finance his collegiate career.
Il never heard of its being done
by any young man before, either at
Tech or anywhere in the world" said
DR.. James Flack Norris, professor Of
organic chemistry and director of
the Tech research laboratory, in the
field in which young Woodward took
his degree.
In appearance, Woodward is slen-
der, is feet IL inches tall, and weighs
l54 pounds. Besides his passion for
organic chemistry, he plays tennis
and sWims.
Has Advanced Perspective.
woodward is brilliant" say Prof.
Norris, but unlike some scholars he
will not burn out suddenly. He has
very advanced perspective on Or
ganlc chemistry. In fact, when he
entered the institute as a freshman
he already had as much knowledge of
organic chemistry as man normally
acquires during the four years of en-
rollment in undergraduate classes.
But at the same time he is a
normal person. He does not sepa-
rate himself like hermit from the
life around him, to cram and study.
He mingles with the men around here
and does the things they do. He has
a fine personality and is popular.
During the last few weeks several
f1attering offers have already come
to Woodward from several large do
mestic corporations and from abroad.
One OF these is willing to give him
an initial salary of s2,700 a year.
But woodward is going to teach dur
ing the Summer at the University of
Illinois, and on his return, he will
do research as an assistant to Elmer
P. Kohler, chairman Of the division of
organic chemistry at Harvard Uni
versity, and one Of the foremost Or
ganic chemists in the United States
Received All Grades.
Woodward, who is a modest, af-
fable person, points out that he re-
ceived every possible grade given by
the institute from H. indicative Of
honor, to FF, indicative of failure.
1t was only natural that in an at
tempt to attain his Phi. D. in four
years, he applied himself to those
courses he thought vitality important
in organic chemistry and skimped
over those he considered non-con-
tributory toward his goal. Some
courses he not only skimped, but
actually dismissed from his program,
until he found time to return to
them, when he let down little on his
research.
Before coming to M. I. T., Woodward
attended the Quincy, Mass, schools
and holds scholarship records there.
He was taken into the institute, when
he was graduated from high school
among the five highest and with an
average of 935.
Woodward attributes his love for
chemistry to his experiments with his
boyhood chums in Quincy. The boys
OF his neighborhood, he said, Wed
with each other to see who could
get together the best laboratory. They
were only 9 or 10 then.
Mrs. Margaret w. Chase is Wood
wards mother Woodward was left
tatherless when he was 18 months
old. The then Mrs. Woodward re-
married.