MARTIN GOUTERMAN (Dec. 26, 1931 – Feb. 22, 2020)
Martin Gouterman was an openly gay man at a time when few scientists were. He is credited with developing an orbital model of porphyrins in 1963 while working at Harvard University. Porphyrins help to form red hemoglobin in blood and the green chlorophyll in plants that are essential to life.
Closeted at Harvard, he came out after moving to Seattle in 1966. There, he helped to organize the Dorian Society that sought public recognition of gay men and lesbians as respectable citizens. He also worked to end the Vietnam war and the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the AIDS pandemic, he opened his home to sick gay men with nowhere else to go. Later, he volunteered at the nation’s first AIDS hospice (ref 1).
References:
1 – LGBTQ+ chemists you should know about. By Katherine Bourzac, Payal Dhar,Giuliana Viglione, Neil Savage. Reference available here.
2 – Many thanks to Chemistry Club co-advisor Dr. Elena Keesee for curating this information for posting.