Donald M. Crothers

Sterling Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Don Crothers, B.S. in Chemistry Yale College, B.A. in Biochemistry Cambridge University, Ph.D. University of California, San Diego, and faculty member at Yale since 1964, you are the complete Yale professor. As a scholar, your major books—The Physical Chemistry of Nucleic Acids; Physical Chemistry with Applications to the Life Sciences; and Nucleic Acids: Structures, Properties, and Functions— and your publication of over 250 scientific articles have defined the properties of nucleic acids and inspired a generation. For this work you have received numerous honors and awards, among them election as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Founding Class Fellow of the Biophysical Society.

But this is just the beginning. As a distinguished teacher and community citizen, the list of your service to the University in your 39 years on this faculty would be too long to recite in its entirety. Two of the major reports of the last twenty years carry your name—the Report of the Faculty on the Education of Women in 1984 and the Final Report of the Provost’s Committee on Retirement in 1993—both often referred to as the “Crothers Reports.” You chaired the Department of Chemistry for twelve years, serving from 1975-1981 and again from 1993-1999. Beyond all of this you are a true Eli: a graduate of the college, who has never been afraid to ask it to live up to its name. Forty-five years ago, in your senior Class Book, you wrote an essay rallying the cause for science at Yale. Forty-five years later, you are still prodding and encouraging Yale to do better. In your latest stewardship of the department you took a leadership role in the planning of the long overdue new Chemistry building, and when it is completed it will owe much to your care and tenacity. With thanks to you for honoring Yale with your accomplishments, teaching, citizenship, and passionate persistence, this faculty sends you off with a grateful Bulldog cheer.

Tribute Editor: Penelope Laurans