American biochemist R. Bruce Merrifield is recognized as a leading figure in peptide research. He was awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his development of an automated laboratory technique for rapidly synthesizing peptide chains in large quantities. His research into peptide-protein and nucleic acid chemistry has significantly advanced the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology, and pharmacology.

Merrifield was born July 15, 1921, in Fort Worth, Texas, the only son of George E. and Lorene Lucas Merrifield. Two years after his birth the family moved to California, moving frequently during the Great Depression as his father sought work as a furniture salesman. By Merrifield's count he attended more than forty schools before the family finally settled in Montebello, California. It was at a high school there that he became interested in science, especially chemistry and astronomy. He joined the astronomy club, eventually building his own telescope, grinding its mirror himself...