John E. Franz

Infobox Scientist
name = John E. Franz
caption = John E. Franz
birth_date = December 21, 1929
birth_place =
residence = Crestwood, Missouri
citizenship =
nationality = United States
ethnicity =
field = Organic Chemistry
work_institutions =
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = Magnetic tape sound recording
author_abbrev_bot =
author_abbrev_zoo =
influences =
influenced =
known for = Roundup
prizes = National Medal of Technology, Carothers Award, Perkins Medal
footnotes =


John E. Franz was an organic chemist who discovered the herbicide glyphosate while working at Monsanto Company in 1970. The chemical became the active ingredient in Roundup, a broad-spectrum, post-emergence herbicide. Franz later won numerous awards and recognitions.

Early Life and education

John E. Franz was born on December 21, 1929 in Springfield, Illinois. By the age of ten, he knew he wanted to be a scientist. Franz received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1951 and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1955.

Career

Franz has spent his entire career at Monsanto, in St. Louis, Missouri. After finishing his Ph.D., Franz was hired by Monsanto as a Research Chemist. He focused on process research, new polymer synthesis, and the development of plasticizers and polymer flame retardants. Franz received two patents while working in the organic division, one for nitrates in 1960, and one for a fire retardant in 1967. He transferred to the Agricultural Division of Monsanto in 1967, motivated by the department’s “emphasis on publishing, academic contacts, and the freedom to pursue ideas” (Monsanto biography). Because his background was in organic chemistry, Franz familiarized himself with the new field by spending a year studying and learning about plant physiology and biochemistry before beginning research.

Franz discovered the herbicide glyphosate, and received five dollars for his first patent from Monsanto. From 1960 to 1988, he received over 840 patents worldwide including approximately forty in the United States. Over the course of his career, Franz published over forty papers and wrote the book "Glyphosate: A Unique Global Herbicide" with Michael K. Mao and James A. Sikorski. He was promoted to Distinguished Fellow in 1980, and later in his career went back to the organic division to concentrate on environmentally friendly products until retiring in 1990.

Discovery of Glyphosate

Researchers at Monsanto had been searching for a herbicide that was effective against annual and perennial weeds for nine years but found little success. They knew of two phosphonic acid compounds that were ineffective against weeds, and the researchers were not able to advance the compounds. Franz took over the research in 1969 and incorrectly hypothesized that the phosphonic acids acted as proherbicides that were metabolized to active compounds rather than herbicides. Franz and his research team screened possible metabolites and synthesized compounds and eventually discovered glyphosate in 1970.

Although all of the patents regarding glyphosate list Franz as the sole inventor and the Monsanto Company as the assignee, Franz acknowledged that the discovery was a group effort. In 2007, when he was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, Franz said, “It's a recognition of the entire team of scientists who worked on and supported the development of Roundup herbicides". Glyphosate works by absortion through leaves, and then moving rapidly to a plant’s roots, rhizomes, and meristems.

Once glyphosate was invented, it took four years to reach the market. It was first introduced as "Roundup", and is still best known by that brand. One brand of glyphosate-based herbicide, AquaMaster, is approved to kill plants in water. Various brands of the herbicide are marketed to backyard farmers, maintenance crews, and professional farmers alike. Pure glyphosate is an acid, but is usually sold as an isopropylamine salt. On the market, it is commonly found as a water-soluble concentrate or as a powder paired with a surfactant such as polyethoxethyleneamine. The surfactant helps the herbicide penetrate the plant cells and be the most effective. Technical grade glyphosate is an odorless white chrystelline powder and by itself is fairly safe. Increasinlgy, there have been reports of Roundup having harmful effects. The combination of glyphosate and a surfactant has been found toxic to human placental cells. Roundup has been ingested in multiple suicide attempts in Japan.

Honors and awards

Franz has received many awards for his important discovery. In 1983, he received the first J.F. Queeny Award from Monsanto to honor an invention that was also a commercial success. He was the recipient of the 1987 National Medal of Technology, one of the few agricultural technologies to ever receive the honor. Franz received the American Chemical Society’s Carothers Award in 1989 for “outstanding contributions and advances in industrial applications of chemistry”. In 1990, he was awarded the Perkins Medal by the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, based on his contributions to the research and development of applied chemistry.

Franz was inducted into the United States' Inventor's Hall of Fame on May 5, 2007. To honor the induction, Monsanto created the Monsanto Franz Innovation Award, an annual scholarship awarded to a graduate student at the University of Minnesota studying organic chemistry. Franz has also won the 1977 Industrial Research-100 Award, Outstanding Achievement Award in 1988, 1988 Missouri Award, and named the St. Louis Metropolitan Bar Association Inventor of the Year in 1986. Roundup was named one of the “Top 10 Products That Changed the Face of Agriculture” by the magazine Farm Chemicals in 1994.

Patents

Franz has over 840 patents to his name concerning glyphosate and lesser known discoveries. Because of the nature of glyphosate, it requires many patents concerning identification, synthesis, and other processes required to produce the chemical.

* Patent Number: 3853530, Regulating Plants With
* Patent Number: 3977860, Herbicidal compositions and methods employing esters of
* Patent Number: 3954848, Process for producing N-phosphonomethy glycine

References

* Chemical Achievers “John E. Franz and Marinus Los.” Chemical Heritage Foundation. http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/chemach/environment/franz-los.html
* Invent Now Hall of Fame. “Inventor Profile: John E. Franz.” National Inventors Hall of Fame. http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/333.html
* Lemelson-MIT Program. “Inventor of the Week: John Franz.” Lemelson –MIT Program. http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/franz.html
* Murtaza F. Alibhai and William C. Stallings, “Closing down on glyphosate inhibition- with a United States of America 98 (2001): 2944-6.
* Monsanto “Biography of Dr. John Franz” Monsanto. http://www.monsanto.com/features/franz_bio.asp
* Sacred Heart-Griffin High School Online. “Sacred Heart – Griffin Hall of Fame.” Sacred Heart – Griffin. http://www.shg.org/alumni/HallofFame.html
* Strong, Colby. “People: Monsanto Scientist John E. Franz Wins 1990 Perkins Medal for Applied Chemistry.” The Scientist 10 (1990): 28.
* http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/10101/
* Toxipedia. “Glyphosate.” Toxipedia. http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Glyphosate#Glyphosate-ExternalLinks