Gordon Alles is credited with discovering and publishing the physiological effects of amphetamine and methylenedioxyamphetamine.
10 Facts About Gordon Alles
1.
2.
Gordon Alles is the first person to have prepared amphetamine sulfate, although not the amphetamine molecule.
3.
Gordon Alles received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees from California Institute of Technology.
4.
Gordon Alles was owner of the Alles Chemical Research Laboratories in Pasadena, and had been a Caltech research associate since 1939.
5.
Gordon Alles was primarily interested in natural and synthetic drug chemicals and the relationship between their molecular structures and their biological actions.
6.
Gordon Alles spent time in Tahiti, where he was investigating the possibilities of developing tranquilizers from alkaloids in a native drink called kava.
7.
Gordon Alles never lived to see the downfall of his invention in both medical doctrine and popular opinion.
8.
Gordon Alles worked with SKF at isolating medically useful drugs from cannabis.
9.
Gordon Alles investigated hallucinogenic and stimulant chemicals in the Khat plant, starting with a 1955 expedition to Ethiopia to study how it was used in traditional medicine.
10.
The cause of death of this biochemist who had begun his career by studying insulin was, ironically, diabetes, a disease Gordon Alles never knew he had.