CHEMIST

John Cornforth

1917 - 2013

Photo of John Cornforth

Icon of person John Cornforth

Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr., (7 September 1917 – 8 December 2013) was an Australian–British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions, becoming the only Nobel laureate born in New South Wales. Cornforth investigated enzymes that catalyse changes in organic compounds, the substrates, by taking the place of hydrogen atoms in a substrate's chains and rings. In his syntheses and descriptions of the structure of various terpenes, olefins, and steroids, Cornforth determined specifically which cluster of hydrogen atoms in a substrate were replaced by an enzyme to effect a given change in the substrate, allowing him to detail the biosynthesis of cholesterol. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of John Cornforth has received more than 356,957 page views. His biography is available in 57 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 53 in 2019). John Cornforth is the 182nd most popular chemist (up from 226th in 2019), the 30th most popular biography from Australia (up from 36th in 2019) and the most popular Australian Chemist.

John cornforth is most famous for his work on the synthesis of vitamin B12.

Memorability Metrics

  • 360k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 61.85

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 57

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 13.81

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.39

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among CHEMISTS

Among chemists, John Cornforth ranks 182 out of 602. Before him are Robert F. Furchgott, Henry Louis Le Chatelier, Giulio Natta, Robert W. Holley, Richard F. Heck, and Germain Henri Hess. After him are Stanley Miller, Paul D. Boyer, John E. Walker, F. Sherwood Rowland, Nicolas Leblanc, and Robert S. Mulliken.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1917, John Cornforth ranks 50. Before him are Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, Danielle Darrieux, Edward Norton Lorenz, Jack Kirby, Manolete, and Andrew Huxley. After him are Violeta Parra, Maurice Duverger, William Standish Knowles, Leonora Carrington, Chung Il-kwon, and Thelonious Monk. Among people deceased in 2013, John Cornforth ranks 46. Before him are Don Shirley, Mohammed Omar, Jerome Karle, Jesús Franco, James Gandolfini, and Lawrence Klein. After him are James M. Buchanan, Nagisa Oshima, Richard Matheson, Ed Lauter, Chinua Achebe, and Viktor Kulikov.

Others Born in 1917

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Others Deceased in 2013

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In Australia

Among people born in Australia, John Cornforth ranks 30 out of 1,143. Before him are John Eccles (1903), V. Gordon Childe (1892), Robin Warren (1937), Peter Singer (1946), Macfarlane Burnet (1899), and Steve Irwin (1962). After him are P. L. Travers (1899), Lionel Logue (1880), Ned Kelly (1855), Tamam Shud case (1903), John Noble (1948), and Kylie Minogue (1968).

Others born in Australia

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Among CHEMISTS In Australia

Among chemists born in Australia, John Cornforth ranks 1. After him are David Warren (1925).

Australian born Chemists

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