1942-

American chemist and researcher whose discovery of the sweetness of aspartame (in 1965) led to the development of G.D. Searle & Co.'s most famous product, NutraSweet. Company folklore tells the tale of how Schlatter licked his finger to turn a book's page and tasted a sweet flavor, which the company decided to research. The resulting sugar substitute—180 to 200 times sweeter than sucrose—became one of the world's most widely used sweeteners under the name NutraSweet.