Corwin Hansch


Corwin Herman Hansch was a Professor of Chemistry at Pomona College in California. He became known as the 'father of computer-assisted molecule design.'

Early life and childhood

He was born on October 6, 1918 in Kenmare, North Dakota.

Education

He earned a B.S. from the University of Illinois in 1940 and a Ph.D. from New York University in 1944.

Career

Hansch worked on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago and as a group leader at DuPont Nemours in Richland, Washington. In February 1946 he received an academic position at Pomona College.
Hansch taught Organic Chemistry for many years at Pomona College, and was known for giving complex lectures without using notes. His course in Physical Bio-Organic Medicinal Chemistry was ground-breaking at an undergraduate level.
Hansch may be best known as the father of the concept of quantitative structure-activity relationship, the quantitative correlation of the physicochemical properties of molecules with their biological activities.
He is also noted for the Hansch equation, which is used in
Research Interests:
Organic Chemistry; Interaction of organic chemicals with living organisms, Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships.
He died of pneumonia on May 8, 2011 in Claremont, California at 92.