Charles J. Pedersen

Charles John Pedersen (Japanese: 安井 良男, Yasui Yoshio, October 3, 1904 – October 26, 1989) was an American organic chemist best known for discovering crown ethers and describing methods of synthesizing them during his entire 42-year career as a chemist for DuPont at DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware, and at DuPont's Jackson Laboratory in Deepwater, New Jersey. Often associated with Reed McNeil Izatt, Pedersen also shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987 with Donald J. Cram and Jean-Marie Lehn. He is the only Nobel Prize laureate born in Korea other than Peace Prize laureate Kim Dae-jung.

Pedersen made countless other discoveries in chemistry, such as discovering and developing metal deactivators. His early investigations also led to the development of a dramatically improved process for manufacturing tetraethyl lead, an important gasoline additive. He also contributed to the development of neoprene.