William Nunn Lipscomb, Jr. worked in several of the subdivisions of chemistry in his career, but was awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his studies of chemical bonding in boron compounds , particularly the boron hydrides. These materials break some of the conventional rules of chemistry, and Lipscomb's theories have expanded chemists' understanding of how atoms can be bonded to one another.

Lipscomb was born on December 9, 1919, to William and Edna (Porter) Lipscomb. He grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, after his family had moved there from Cleveland, Ohio, when he was a year old. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in chemistry in 1941. After serving with the United States Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, he finished his doctorate in physical chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in 1946. His thesis advisor was the distinguished Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling. Lipscomb...