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			John C. Sheehan Born Sep 23 1915 - Died Mar 21 1992 Displacement of the Thiazolidine Ring in Penicillin with the Formation of a Biologically Active Cephem System Penicillin Patent Number(s) 3,939,151 Inducted 1995 Sir Alexander Fleming's 1928 discovery of penicillin in bread mold was a tremendous breakthrough for medical science. Unfortunately, Fleming's process for harvesting the antibiotic took months to generate a small amount. During World War II, as demand for penicillin rose, researchers worked feverishly to synthesize the penicillin molecule. More than a thousand scientists in 39 U.S. labs became involved in the project. But when the war ended and the molecule still had not revealed its structure, the funds for research ended. From 1948 to 1957 only one laboratory of continued the research-John Sheehan's. In March of 1957, while a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sheehan announced the first rational total synthesis of natural penicillin. The next year he reported a general total synthesis of penicillins. Invention Impact Sheehan's total synthesis of penicillin in the early 1950s paved the way for mass commercial production of the antibiotic. A wider range of penicillin derivatives has been discovered to treat a wider range of diseases. The variations of penicillin have advanced so much that there are variants to fit any specific medical problem. Inventor Bio Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, Sheehan graduated from Battle Creek College and received his master's and Ph.D. degrees in organic chemistry from the University of Michigan. He began a 31-year teaching career at MIT in 1946. Sheehan's inventiveness extended beyond medical science. At the beginning of World War II, he and W.E. Bachmann of the University of Michigan devised a new and practical method of manufacturing the important military high explosive RDX (cyclonite), which replaced TNT as the basic explosive for rocket, bomb, and torpedo warheads. In 1953 and 1954 he served as a scientific liaison officer with the American Embassy in London for the Office of Naval Research. He was later a scientific adviser to presidents Kennedy and Johnson. During his lifetime he was awarded more than 40 patents.