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Robert Burns Woodward is generally recognized as the leading organic chemist of the twentieth century. He and his coworkers determined the structures of biologically active natural products, developed theoretical rules for predicting the outcomes of organic reactions, and synthesized some of the most complex molecules known to humans. In 1965 Woodward received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his "outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis." Woodward was born on April 10, 1917, in Boston, Massachusetts....

