Max Tishler

Max Tishler (born October 30, 1906 in Boston , Massachusetts , † March 18, 1989 in Middletown , Connecticut ) was an American pharmacologist .

Tishler came from a poor background; his father was a shoemaker. The experience of the catastrophic flu epidemic of 1918 motivated him to devote himself to drug development and he studied chemistry at Tufts University with a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in 1928. In 1934 he received his doctorate in organic chemistry from Harvard University with Elmer P. Kohler . He then taught at Harvard before joining Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD) in 1937 . He became head of Merck Sharpe and Dohme Research Laboratories . In 1970 he retired from MSD and taught at Wesleyan University . In 1975 he became professor emeritus there, but remained active at the university until 1987.

In the 1940s he developed a synthesis process for cortisone at MSD (in which Lewis Hastings Sarett was significantly involved) that opened the way to mass production. He was also involved in the development of manufacturing processes for vitamin B ₂ ( riboflavin ), C, B ₆ , B ₁₂ , D, K, E, for antibiotics ( penicillin , streptomycin , sulfachinoxaline ) in MSD. During World War II he directed the mass production of penicillin at MSD. He is co-author of the first synthesis of cortisol and the first isolation of actinomycin D . Under his leadership, vaccines against measles, mumps and animal diseases and drugs against high blood pressure and heart disease and antidepressants were also developed.

Max Tishler held around 100 patents. He received the Priestley Medal , the National Medal of Science, and the IRI Medal . In 1953 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and in 1965 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Web links

• Obituary in the New York Times
• Obituary at Wesleyan University