Alfred Hassner was born in 1930. He survived the holocaust as a young child. After WW II, he enrolled to the Technische Hochschule in Vienna (1949-1951), and then received his BSc from the University of Nebraska (1952). He obtained his PhD under Norman Cromwell at the University of Nebraska (1956) and then was a postdoc with Louis Fieser at Harvard University. He joined the University of Colorado at Boulder (1957) and became a Full Professor at the age of 36 (1966). In 1975, he moved to SUNY at Binghamton and in 1983 he joined Bar-Ilan University in Israel, where he was professor and after retirement Professor Emeritus, until his sad demise recently (2024) at the age of 94.
Hassner mentored over 50 graduate students and more than 60 postdocs, published more than 320 research articles and 14 books and monographs, and has had a major impact on chemical science for the last 7 decades.
Some of his most known contributions include the stereoselective introduction of nitrogen functionalities into organic molecules, the synthesis of steroidal heterocycles and other biologically active targets. He was one of the first to recognize the application of NMR half-widths to stereochemical structure assignments before high resolution NMR became available. Many useful reagents and concepts in organic synthesis are registered to his name. For example, he first proposed the concept of regiochemistry and regioselectivity, now universally used terminologies in organic chemistry.
As a world-renowned expert in organic synthesis, he has held visiting professorships and appointments in many universities worldwide and also served as a valuable consultant for many industrial companies around the world.
Hassner served as the president of the Israel Chemical Society - ICS (1991-1994). In 2007, he received the ICS prize for Excellence. In 2016, he received Honorary membership award for his lifetime achievement and outstanding contributions.