Woodward 1917年生于美国波士顿,1933年16岁时进入麻省理工学院,1937年获得博士学位。以后,他在伊利诺斯大学的暑期讲习班任教一年,后作为Kohler的同工作者回到波士顿,在哈佛大学渡过一生,并一直工作到生命的最后一刻。1938年他已是哈佛大学研究会的初级研究员,这个身份的职责仅是每星期与其他会员共同进餐一次。1941年提升为讲师,1950年成为教授,1953年被任命为Morris-Loeb衔称的化学教授。1960年为Donner衔称的科学教授。1979年7月在他去世后,人们对他的工作给了极高的评价。在Barton,Wasserman以及其他知名的有机化学家的悼 Born in Boston, United States, in 1917, Woodward entered MIT in 1933 at age 16 and a doctorate in 1937. Later, after teaching for a year at the University of Illinois Summer Workshop, he returned to Boston as Kohler’s fellow worker, spent his life at Harvard and worked until the last minute of his life. He was a junior researcher at the Harvard Research Association in 1938 and his role was merely to eat together with other members once a week. He was promoted to lecturer in 1941, became professor in 1950, and was appointed professor of chemistry in 1953 by Morris-Loeb. 1960 professor of science named Donner. After his death in July 1979, people gave a very high opinion of his work. Mourning at Barton, Wasserman and other well-known organic chemists