Event: Degree 1937 Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Techniology Event: Fact 1964 National Medal of Science Event: Fact 1965 Nobel Prize in Chemistry During the late 1940s, Woodward synthesized many complex natural products including quinine, cholesterol, cortisone, strychnine, lysergic acid, reserpine, chlorophyll, cephalosporin, and colchicine. With these, Woodward opened up a new era of synthesis, sometimes called the 'Woodwardian era' in which he showed that natural products could be synthesized by careful applications of the principles of physical organic chemistry, and by meticulous planning.