Jacob Schaefer III

Jacob Schaefer, one of the world’s experts in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, died 27 June 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. He was 83 years old.

Jake, the son and grandson of legendary billiard players, chose as his game to play with the spins of atomic nuclei to gain chemical insight. As much as anyone else in the world, he both invented and refined techniques that made nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy a powerful tool for the study of heterogeneous solids. By the time Jake was 38 years old, he had published the first ¹³C NMR spectra of synthetic copolymers (1969), the first magic-angle spinning ¹³C NMR spectrum of a solid polymer (1972), and the first cross-polarization magic-angle spinning (CPMAS) ¹³C NMR spectra of polymers (including polysulfone, a sample of ebony, and a very carefully cut cylinder from an ivory billiard ball) in 1976—the dawn of CPMAS.

His laboratory produced monumental NMR tools including CPMAS, rotational-echo, double-resonance (REDOR), and multi-channel transmission line probes, the designs for which he shared with groups worldwide. These tools are so widely used that they are simply referenced by the acronym. Their impact on medicine, biochemistry, and materials science has been profound. Jake himself applied these techniques to important studies that led to advanced understanding of proteins, living cells and metabolism, and polymers. His accomplishments include determination of the binding-site geometry of amidine-factor Xa and taxol-tubulin, leading to improved blood anticoagulant and anticancer drugs, elucidation of oritavancin and glycopeptide modes of action in bacterial cell walls, detection of connectivities and crosslinks in insect cuticle, and determination of the link between microscopic chain packing and macroscopic mechanical properties of polymer glasses. Jake also advanced the thesis that, due to photorespiration, some plants would be more susceptible to drought under high CO₂ conditions. Time will tell.

The tools mentioned above were the response to his question-driven approach: identify the problem then find (or invent if you must) the technique to solve it. As an indication of the worldwide respect the NMR community had for Jake, the November 2015 issue of the journal Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance was dedicated to him and his work. At a meeting associated with this journal issue, one speaker noted that every time someone believes they have come up with a novel experiment, they discover that Jake had already done it in the 1980s.

Jake was born in San Francisco and lived in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland as a child. Much of his time was spent in hotels watching his father move small round balls around a flat table with a long stick or, relieving others of child-sitting duties, in the bleachers of a ball field. He attended high school in Lakewood, Ohio. As an undergraduate, he attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (later part of Carnegie-Mellon University), and he earned his PhD in chemistry at the University of Minnesota in 1964. He immediately moved to Monsanto, where he became a Senior Science Fellow in 1980. In 1986 Washington University in St Louis persuaded him to join its faculty as the Charles Allen Thomas Professor of Chemistry.

While running his world-famous solid-state NMR laboratory, Jake contributed to all levels of instruction at the university. He taught general chemistry, physical chemistry, and advanced graduate-level courses on NMR. His attention to education at all levels was an inspiration for other faculty and provided a premier example of how to splice research and instruction. Jake always took an active role in mentoring junior faculty, and he spent endless hours learning their work and offering expert advice and direction so they could achieve their full potential. Jake’s scientific prowess and interests extended well beyond those directly related to his research, and he was always primed for scientific discussions and debates with faculty, colleagues, and students alike.

Jake was a serious baseball and history buff, and his quick, wry wit compelled all in his company to play “heads-up ball.” He was a revered mentor, teacher, colleague, collaborator, and scientist. So many will forever treasure Jake’s friendship, his kindness and humble manner, his wonderful sense of humor, and his gifts of science. For this and so much more, he will be remembered and missed.

Jacob Schaefer III is survived by his wife, Diana Dickes, his three children (Jill Myers and Jacob IV and Thomas Schaefer) and five grandchildren (Sarah, Emily, and Matthew Schaefer and Jacob V and Ian Myers), and by his first wife, Jane Schaefer.