1897-1987

German chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1979 for studies of a family type of organic molecules containing phosphorus, called ylides, that he discovered. Ylides are used in an organic chemical process known as the Wittig reaction that is used to make alkenes from aldehydes and has been employed in the synthesis of organic molecules such as vitamins and steroids. He also studied structurally strained molecules and the reactions of carbanions.