Raymond Urgel Lemieux

Career

Raymond Lemieux obtained his doctorate from McGill University in 1946. He briefly held research positions at Ohio State University and the University of Saskatchewan before moving, in 1949, to National Research Council’s Prairie Regional Laboratory in Saskatoon as senior research officer. Here he completed the first chemical synthesis of sucrose.

He moved to the University of Ottawa in 1954, where he pioneered the application of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to the structure elucidation of natural products. In 1961 he went to the University of Alberta, where his research focused on the special bonding properties termed"anomeric effects" and how these controlled the chemical reactions and shapes of carbohydrate molecules. This work led to the first chemical syntheses of the complex carbohydrates found on human cell surfaces and to an understanding of how the shapes of these molecules control their function. (See also Chemistry Subdisciplines.)

In addition to producing more than 200 scientific publications, Lemieux held over 30 patents, mostly on antibiotics and semisynthetic blood group antigens, and was the founder of three research and chemical companies.

Honours and Awards

Raymond Lemieux was awarded several honorary doctorates and numerous awards and distinctions, including:

• Fellow, Royal Society of Canada(1954)
• Fellow, Royal Society of London (1955)
• Officer, Order of Canada (1968)
• Izaak Walton Killam Award, Canada Council for the Arts (1981)
• Medal of Honour, Canadian Medical Association (1985)
• Gairdner International Award, Gairdner Foundation (1985)
• Member, Alberta Order of Excellence (1990)
• Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (1991)
• Companion, Order of Canada (1994)
• Inductee, Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame (2004)