Calvin Lee Stevens (November 3, 1923 – November 26, 2014) was an American chemist. He was a professor of organic chemistry at Wayne State University, and is known for being the first to synthesize the drug ketamine.^{[citation needed]}

Early life and education

Stevens was born in Edwardsville, Illinois, to Arthur Allen Stevens and Irma E. Ambuehl.^[1] He earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Illinois, and in 1947 a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in the field of substituted ketene acetals and related orthoesters.^[2]

Career

Stevens received a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the staff of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, in 1948 and became a full professor of chemistry there in 1954.^[3] He subsequently served as chairman of the chemistry department,^[4][5] Vice President for Research, and Interim Provost to the University.

In 1958 he was a member of the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service organization.^[6]

Stevens received a Guggenheim Fellowship at the Sorbonne in 1955. He served as a Scientific Officer for the U.S. Embassy in London in 1959.

In 1962, while a consultant at the Parke-Davis Laboratories, he synthesized the drug ketamine,^[7][8] which is commonly used as a general anesthetic.

Stevens received two Fulbright Fellowships in 1964 and 1971. He was a tenured Professor Associe at the University of Paris VI. In 1982 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Nancy. ^{[citation needed]}

Stevens died on November 26, 2014, at the age of 91.^[9]