# Elias James Corey
**Elias James Corey**, known professionally as E. J. Corey (born 12 July 1928), is an American organic chemist at Harvard University who won the 1990 [Nobel Prize in Chemistry](https://www.edgepedia.org/nobel-prize-in-chemistry), unshared, "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis."[1](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1990/corey/facts/) He is the originator of retrosynthetic analysis, the method of planning a synthesis by working backward from the target molecule, and of the LHASA program for computer-assisted synthesis planning.[1](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1990/corey/facts/) • [2](https://doi.org/10.1525/hsns.2018.48.3.300) He has published more than 1,000 scientific papers and is one of the most cited authors in science.[3](https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 12 July 1928, Methuen, Massachusetts, USA[1](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1990/corey/facts/) |
| Nobel Prize | 1990, Chemistry, unshared; "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis"[1](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1990/corey/facts/) |
| Training | MIT 1945–1950; PhD 1951, advisor John C. Sheehan[3](https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey) • [4](http://web-genealogy.scs.illinois.edu/Info/coreyej.pdf) |
| Career | University of Illinois faculty 1951–1959 (professor 1956); Harvard professor since 1959[3](https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey) |
| Signature work | Retrosynthetic analysis; first syntheses of major prostaglandins and leukotrienes; LHASA computer program[5](https://wolffund.org.il/elias-j-corey/) • [2](https://doi.org/10.1525/hsns.2018.48.3.300) |
| Output | More than 1,000 publications (1948 onward), according to his laboratory site, including a 2026 Organic Letters paper |[3](https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey) • [6](http://ejcorey.org/corey/publications/publications.php)
## Early life and training
Corey graduated from Lawrence Public High School at sixteen and entered the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](https://www.edgepedia.org/massachusetts-institute-of-technology) in July 1945.[7](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html) According to his Nobel Prize biography, he joined [John C. Sheehan](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-c-sheehan)'s group for his undergraduate thesis while the group was working on synthetic penicillins, and stayed on for doctoral work in that program, completing it by the end of 1950.[7](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html) The University of Illinois genealogy record dates the PhD itself to 1951, with Sheehan as research advisor.[4](http://web-genealogy.scs.illinois.edu/Info/coreyej.pdf)
In November 1950, during his third year of graduate school, he was offered a teaching position at Illinois beginning January 1951, leaving only a few weeks to write the thesis.[8](https://cen.acs.org/articles/82/i13/ABOVE-BEYOND-ORGANIC-SYNTHESIS.html) At twenty-two he joined Illinois as an Instructor in Chemistry, and in 1956, at twenty-seven, was appointed Professor of Chemistry there.[7](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html)
## Career at Harvard
In early October 1957, on a Guggenheim-funded sabbatical at Harvard, the key ideas for a logical and general way of thinking about chemical synthesis came to him.[7](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html) In spring 1959 he accepted a Professorship at Harvard, where he has remained ever since.[7](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html) • [3](https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey)
His honors include the U.S. National Medal of Science, the [Japan Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/japan-prize) in Science, the American Chemical Society's Priestley Medal in 2004, election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and Fellowship of the Royal Society.[3](https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey) • [9](https://mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/laureates/corey/cv) • [10](https://royalsociety.org/people/elias-corey-11263/)
## Retrosynthetic analysis and computer-assisted synthesis
At the end of the 1950s Corey began developing a retrosynthetic approach in which the desired molecule is analyzed as a combination of smaller components united by essential bonds, repeated until known molecules are obtained.[1](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1990/corey/facts/) His book *The Logic of Chemical Synthesis* outlines the basic concepts of retrosynthetic analysis and the general strategies for generating synthetic pathways by logical reduction of molecular complexity, followed by a collection of multistep syntheses.[11](https://www.wiley.com/en-sg/The+Logic+of+Chemical+Synthesis-p-9780471115946) His 1991 Nobel Lecture states that the concept revolutionized both the practice and the teaching of organic chemistry.[12](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.199104553) At Harvard, first-year graduate students could be taught in three months to design sophisticated syntheses using the method.[7](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html)
Corey developed retrosynthetic analysis and the LHASA program (Logic and Heuristics Applied to Synthetic Analysis) side-by-side, from the early 1960s through the 1990s.[2](https://doi.org/10.1525/hsns.2018.48.3.300) The project was funded by NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences as R01 GM018519 at Harvard from 1976 to 1995; the grant record calls it the pioneer of computer-assisted synthetic analysis, usable interactively with graphical input-output of structural formulas.[13](https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-GM018519-23) His 1985 *Science* paper described an interactive program using retrosynthetic strategies and a database to generate pathways of chemical intermediates for a target structure, searching in the retrosynthetic direction, the synthetic direction, or bidirectionally.[14](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3838594) In the group's implementation, a structure drawn with a stylus on an electrostatic tablet prompted the software to suggest starting materials and reactions.[8](https://cen.acs.org/articles/82/i13/ABOVE-BEYOND-ORGANIC-SYNTHESIS.html)
## Representative works
- [Catalytic Enantioselective Diels-Alder Reactions: Methods, Mechanistic Fundamentals, Pathways, and Applications](https://doi.org/10.1002/1521-3773(20020517)41:10<1650::aid-anie1650>3.0.co;2-b), *Angewandte Chemie International Edition*, 2002.
- [Computer-Assisted Analysis in Organic Synthesis](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3838594), *Science*, 1985.
- [The Logic of Chemical Synthesis: Multistep Synthesis of Complex Carbogenic Molecules (Nobel Lecture)](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.199104553), *Angewandte Chemie*, 1991.
A visit to Lund left Corey intrigued by prostaglandins, and his group's mid-1960s research produced the first chemical syntheses of prostaglandins.[7](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html) The Wolf Foundation records that he was the first to synthesize the major representatives of the prostaglandins and the leukotrienes.[5](https://wolffund.org.il/elias-j-corey/) The Royal Society counts around 100 biologically active and complicated natural products synthesized by his group, including treatments for asthma and infertility, and the active substance from the ginkgo tree.[10](https://royalsociety.org/people/elias-corey-11263/) His Nobel Lecture names the total syntheses of gibberellic acid and ginkgolide B as milestones in organic synthesis.[12](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.199104553)
## Industry roles
Corey has advised Pfizer since the 1950s, and by the time of his 2004 Priestley Medal profile his research funding came exclusively from private sources, with Pfizer a major supporter.[8](https://cen.acs.org/articles/82/i13/ABOVE-BEYOND-ORGANIC-SYNTHESIS.html)
## Activity through 2026
Corey retired from classroom teaching in 1998 but continued research with a group of postdoctoral fellows.[8](https://cen.acs.org/articles/82/i13/ABOVE-BEYOND-ORGANIC-SYNTHESIS.html) He remains listed on the Harvard Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology faculty page as of September 2026.[3](https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey) His publications page lists a 2026 paper in *Organic Letters*, volume 28, issue 13, pages 3992–3996, from Harvard.[6](http://ejcorey.org/corey/publications/publications.php)
## Legacy
The Wolf Foundation credits his concept of retrosynthesis, which lent itself to translation into computer language, with laying the foundation for computer-assisted synthesis.[5](https://wolffund.org.il/elias-j-corey/) His Nobel Lecture describes the application of computers to synthetic planning as pioneering.[12](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.199104553) In 1990 it was said of him: "It is probable that no other chemist has developed such a comprehensive assortment of methods… in the synthesising laboratory."[9](https://mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/laureates/corey/cv)
## References
1. [Elias James Corey – Facts, NobelPrize.org](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1990/corey/facts/)
2. ["A Way of Thinking Backwards", Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, 2018](https://doi.org/10.1525/hsns.2018.48.3.300)
3. [E. J. Corey, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University](https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/people/e-j-corey)
4. [Genealogy database entry: Corey, Elias James, University of Illinois](http://web-genealogy.scs.illinois.edu/Info/coreyej.pdf)
5. [Elias J. Corey, Wolf Foundation](https://wolffund.org.il/elias-j-corey/)
6. [Publications: Elias James Corey](http://ejcorey.org/corey/publications/publications.php)
7. [Elias James Corey – Biographical, NobelPrize.org](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1990/corey-bio.html)
8. [Above and beyond Organic Synthesis, C&EN](https://cen.acs.org/articles/82/i13/ABOVE-BEYOND-ORGANIC-SYNTHESIS.html)
9. [CV – Elias Corey, Lindau Mediatheque](https://mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/laureates/corey/cv)
10. [Professor Elias Corey FRS, Royal Society](https://royalsociety.org/people/elias-corey-11263/)
11. [The Logic of Chemical Synthesis, Wiley](https://www.wiley.com/en-sg/The+Logic+of+Chemical+Synthesis-p-9780471115946)
12. [The Logic of Chemical Synthesis (Nobel Lecture), Angewandte Chemie, 1991](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.199104553)
13. [Computer Assisted Analysis of Chemical Synthesis, NIH R01 GM018519-23](https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-GM018519-23)
14. [Computer-Assisted Analysis in Organic Synthesis, Science, 1985](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3838594)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Chemists › Researchers in organic synthesis, organometallic, and medicinal chemistry › Total synthesis and synthetic methodology*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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