Oral history interview with Leo H. Sternbach, 1986 March 12.

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Oral history interview with Leo H. Sternbach, 1986 March 12.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/715390929

Leo H. Sternbach begins the interview with a discussion of his family and childhood in Austria and Poland. He describes his early education during the First World War as well as his experiences working in his father's pharmacy. After receiving his degree in pharmacy from Jagiellonian University in Cracow, he enrolled in a Ph.D. program in organic chemistry. As a result of intensifying anti-Semitism, he left Poland and went to Vienna, where he worked with Pauli and Fränkel, and then to Zürich to work with Ruzicka at the Swiss Federal Institute. After beginning work with Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel and marrying Herta Kreuzer, increasing pressure to leave Switzerland compelled him to emigrate to the United States, where he continued work with the company in Nutley, New Jersey and began a search for new tranquilizers. Sternbach recalls that he was instructed to terminate his study of benzodiazepines but continued the research unofficially, which led to his significant discoveries of Librium, Valium, and other related drugs. He concludes his interview with a brief summary of his accomplishments and his views on the present state of pharmaceutical research.

Sound files ; digital, mp3 fileTranscript : (49 leaves) ; 29 cm.

Chemical Heritage Foundation, Othmer Library of Chemical History

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SNAC Resource ID: 8084662

Chemical Heritage Foundation, Othmer Library of Chemical History

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Chemical Heritage Foundation.

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F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co.

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Koeppel, Tonja A.

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Sternbach, L. H. (Leo H.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j406z6 (person)

Born in Abbazia, Austria on 7 May 1908. Died on 28 September 2005 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Education: M. Pharmacy, University of Cracow (1929), Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, University of Cracow (1931). Employment: 1931-1937 University of Cracow; 1937-1940 Eidgenössiche Technische Hochschule, Zürich; 1940-1941 Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland; 19410 Hoffmann-La Roche, Nutley, New Jersey. From the description of Oral history interview with Leo H. Sternbach, 1986 March 12. (C...