00:00:00 Over the past 50 years, we have come to take the extensive research efforts of the pharmaceutical industry for granted, and we accept the products of those efforts as a matter of course.

00:00:23 But this desirable and productive state of affairs did not come about by accident.

00:00:29 It required the unswerving dedication and conviction of individual scientists who believed that the pharmaceutical industry could make a vital contribution to scientific research.

00:00:40 One of these scientists was the late Max Tishler, whose memory we honor.

00:00:46 Tishler was born in 1906 in Boston, the same city in which he received his education, a bachelor degree from Tufts, master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard.

00:00:57 But Tishler did not stay in the academic world.

00:01:00 In 1937, he joined Merck Laboratories, convinced that the quality of industry research could and should equal that of educational institutions.

00:01:11 Dr. Tishler's contributions spanned every field of pharmaceutical endeavor.

00:01:16 He focused the Merck Laboratories on the problems of synthesis and development, changing the face of medicine in the process.

00:01:24 Among his early achievements was the synthesis of riboflavin, which led the way to the successful synthesis of other vitamins.

00:01:32 Later, he developed techniques for the large-scale production of penicillin G and streptomycin, which saved countless lives by treating infection from battlefield wounds.

00:01:42 A further accomplishment was a manufacturing process for the production of cortisone.

00:01:48 By 1957, Dr. Tishler was president of the Merck Research Laboratories.

00:01:53 Under his direct guidance, important drugs to control hypertension and cardiorenal disease were first discovered and developed.

00:02:01 The renowned Merck Virology Group produced vaccines for measles, German measles, and mumps.

00:02:08 Other milestones included the first chemical synthesis of an enzyme and the discovery and development of important antibacterial and antiparasitic agents.

00:02:18 At the end of his tenure at Merck, Dr. Tishler finally returned to academia, becoming first professor of chemistry, then professor of sciences emeritus at Wesleyan University.

00:02:30 In 1982, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame, and in 1987 was presented with the National Medal of Science.

00:02:40 In the end, Max Tishler's contributions to pharmaceutical science were greater than the sum of his patents or publications.

00:02:49 He virtually invented the concept of developmental research and directed one of the finest research teams ever assembled.

00:02:57 We honor him not only for his individual accomplishments, but because he helped create the framework in which all such achievements are made.