Dear Jerry,

An important fact: you were born on January 16, 1927, 90 years ago. I add the fact of 90 years, not because I think you may have forgotten the news, nor because I think that your ability to subtract has waned over the years, but rather because your friends and colleagues who are also reading this message may be shocked that their powers of observation are inadequate to properly estimate your age. Well, the truth be known, until I came across the letter reproduced in Fig. 1, I, too, thought you were much younger. I found that letter in Roald’s files, in the course of my “indefatigable” (as Roald characterizes the experience) rummaging there in search of the origin of the Woodward–Hoffmann rules.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Letter from Roald Hoffmann to W. G. Dauben dated February 20, 1967 recommending Jerry Meinwald for participation in an IUPAC symposium

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Now, to Roald’s letter. In February 1967—50 years ago, when you were a sprightly young man of just 40—your Cornell colleague Hoffmann wrote to Bill Dauben, alerting him to the existence of one Jerry Meinwald. Hoffmann’s purpose was for Dauben to invite you to the Second IUPAC International Symposium on Photochemistry. Roald pointed out that.

I doubt that you have as yet heard of him, since his dabbling in photochemistry is only a recent venture…

but Roald assured Dauben that

He seems quite promising in that he appears to have a superior grasp of both synthetic and physical organic methods and with a little luck he may yet become one of our best organic chemists (see Fig. 2).

Fig. 2
figure 2

Jerry Meinwald (left) and Roald Hoffmann at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, February 10, 2017. Photograph courtesy of Paul Houston

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So it seems that Roald’s prognostication was only partially on target. Yes, you did become one of organic chemistry’s brightest stars. But you also, along with your late colleague and close friend, Thomas Eisner, became the co-founder of the field of chemical ecology. How could Roald or anyone in 1967 have guessed that your scientific talents would range so far and so small? (By “small” I refer to ladybugs, beetles, ants, caterpillars, stick insects, millipedes, daddy longlegs, … no small number of smallish beings have attracted you to their secrets.)


Way back then, Roald characterized you, at age 40, as a “young man.” Today, you remain young at heart and young in spirit. We can still characterize you as a young man. I join many of your friends and colleagues in wishing you a Most Happy Birthday! May you have many more special years. Be well,


Jeff