Severyn Marcel (Sever, Sev) Sternhell 1930–2022

Abstract

Sever Sternhell DSc AO FAA FRACI CChem was a prominent figure in Australian organic chemistry, academia and public life for more than forty years. He held the Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Sydney from 1977 until his retirement in 1998. He was very influential, not only directly through his science and his leadership in Australian Chemistry, but also indirectly through the graduate students that he inspired and mentored, and the thousands of undergraduates he taught over the years. Sev undertook his PhD with Professor D. H. R. Barton (later Sir Derek Barton) at Imperial College, London, and it was there that he was introduced to NMR spectroscopy: NMR would become Sev’s major research area for the rest of his career. He was appointed as senior lecturer in organic chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1964 and, in 1977, he was appointed to the Chair of Organic Chemistry and Head of Department. Sev served as Head of the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney on two occasions. He is probably best known for his pioneering research into the use of NMR as a tool to unravel the structures of organic compounds. His seminal monograph (with Lloyd Jackman), Applications of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in organic chemistry, published in 1969, became a ‘bible’ to generations of organic chemists.