Edmund Kornfeld Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

The new antibiotic was named vancomycin, from the term “vanquish” and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1958.

In 1956 with help from Robert Burns Woodward, Kornfeld was successful in synthesizing the first lab produced lysergic acid (LSD). Eli Lilly was looking for a treatment for anxiety, depression, psychosomatic diseases and addiction.

In 1946, he joined Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, Indiana, where most of his discoveries took place. Kornfeld and his team discovered a microbe, Streptomyces orientalis, which was found in soil samples from Borneo. In 1953, they discovered that this microbe produced a unique compound which had the remarkable property of killing all staphylococcal bacteria, including the penicillin-resistant strains. The drug’s ability to inhibit staphylococci was stable during early assays, suggesting that it might be clinically useful for a long period.

Condensation of heterocyclic bases with acetylene dicarboxylic ester. Publisher: Harvard University, 1945.

Edmund Carl Kornfeld (24 February 1919 – 22 June 2012) was an American organic chemist who devoted his life to the research of new drugs. His leading discovery, with the help of a team, was an antibiotic that was later named vancomycin.

Edmund Carl Kornfeld was born on February 24, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Elsie and Julius Kornfeld. He received his AB from Temple University in 1940 and his PhD in chemistry from Harvard University in 1944.