Leo Henryk Sternbach was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

-Jewish chemist

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 who is credited with discovering benzodiazepines, main class of tranquilizer

Tranquilizer

A tranquilizer, or tranquilliser , is a drug that induces tranquility in an individual.The term "tranquilizer" is imprecise, and is usually qualified, or replaced with more precise terms:...

s.

Biography

He was born in Opatija

Opatija

Opatija is a town in western Croatia, just southwest of Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. , the town proper had a population of 7,850, with the municipality having a total 12,719 inhabitants.-Geography:...

, then in Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 and now part of Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

. He received his doctoral degree in organic chemistry from the Jagiellonian University

Jagiellonian University

The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....

 in Krakow, Poland. He worked for Hoffmann-La Roche

Hoffmann-La Roche

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. is a Swiss global health-care company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange....

 in Basel

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, which helped him to flee to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1941 to escape the Nazis. His work on drugs was done while working for Roche in Nutley, New Jersey

Nutley, New Jersey

2010 Census Data:*TOTAL: 28,370 or 100%*White: 23,405 *African American: 628 *Asian: 2,824 *American Indian and Alaska Native: 36 *Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: 4...

.

Sternbach is credited with the discovery of chlordiazepoxide

Chlordiazepoxide

Chlordiazepoxide, is a sedative/hypnotic drug and benzodiazepine. It is marketed under the trade names Angirex, Klopoxid, Librax , Libritabs, Librium, Mesural, Multum, Novapam, Risolid, Silibrin, Sonimen and Tropium.Chlordiazepoxide was the first benzodiazepine to be synthesised and...

 (Librium), diazepam

Diazepam

Diazepam , first marketed as Valium by Hoffmann-La Roche is a benzodiazepine drug. Diazepam is also marketed in Australia as Antenex. It is commonly used for treating anxiety, insomnia, seizures including status epilepticus, muscle spasms , restless legs syndrome, alcohol withdrawal,...

 (Valium), flurazepam

Flurazepam

Flurazepam is a drug which is a benzodiazepine derivative. It possesses anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, sedative and skeletal muscle relaxant properties. It produces a metabolite with a very long half-life , which may stay in the bloodstream for up to four days...

 (Dalmane), nitrazepam

Nitrazepam

Nitrazepam is a type of benzodiazepine drug and is marketed in English-speaking countries under the following brand names: Alodorm, Arem, Insoma, Mogadon, Nitrados, Nitrazadon, Ormodon, Paxadorm, Remnos, and Somnite...

 (Mogadon), flunitrazepam

Flunitrazepam

Flunitrazepam is marketed as a potent hypnotic, sedative, anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, amnestic, and skeletal muscle relaxant drug most commonly known as Rohypnol...

 (Rohypnol), clonazepam

Clonazepam

Clonazepamis a benzodiazepine drug having anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant, and hypnotic properties. It is marketed by Roche under the trade name Klonopin in the United States and Rivotril in Australia, Brazil, Canada and Europe...

 (Klonopin), and trimethaphan

Trimethaphan

Trimetaphan camsilate or trimethaphan camsylate , trade name Arfonad, is a drug that counteracts cholinergic transmission at the ganglion type of nicotinic receptors of the autonomic ganglia and therefore blocks both the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system...

 (Arfonad). Librium, based on the R0 6-690 compound discovered by Sternbach in 1956, was approved for use in 1960. In 1963 its improved version, Valium, was released and became astonishingly popular: between 1969 and 1982 it was the most prescribed drug in America, with over 2.3 billion sold in peak year of 1978. With Moses Wolf Goldberg

Moses Wolf Goldberg

Dr Moses Wolf Goldberg was an Estonian-Jewish chemist who, along with Leo Henryk Sternbach, developed a process for the synthesis of biotin in 1949.-Biography:...

, Sternbach also developed "the first commercially
applicable" method for synthesizing biotin

Biotin

Biotin, also known as Vitamin H or Coenzyme R, is a water-soluble B-complex vitamin discovered by Bateman in 1916. It is composed of a ureido ring fused with a tetrahydrothiophene ring. A valeric acid substituent is attached to one of the carbon atoms of the tetrahydrothiophene ring...

.

Sternbach held 241 patents, and his discoveries helped to turn Roche into a pharmaceutical industry giant. He didn't become wealthy from his discoveries but he was happy: he treated chemistry as a passion and said that "I always did just what I wanted to do". He went into the office until he was 95.
Sternbach was a longtime resident of Upper Montclair, New Jersey

Upper Montclair, New Jersey

Upper Montclair is northern Montclair, which is usually reckoned as everything north of Watchung Avenue. Upper Montclair takes up approximately one third of Montclair, New Jersey-Education:...

, from 1943 to 2003. He moved down south, and died at his new home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...

.

A book "Good chemistry: The life and legacy of valium inventor Leo Sternbach" was published by McGraw-Hill in 2004.

Sternbach's uncle Leon Sternbach, the brother of Sternbach's father Michael, was a professor of classical philology at Jagiellonian University. He was murdered in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...

 by Gustav Sorge

Gustav Sorge

Gustav Hermann Sorge Gustav Hermann Sorge Gustav Hermann Sorge (April 24, 1911 (Rydzyna) – 1978 (Rheinbach, prison), nicknamed "Der eiserne Gustav" (The Iron Gustav) for his brutality, was an SS-Hauptscharführer and a guard at Esterwegen concentration camp in the Emsland region of Germany prior to...

 in 1940.

Legacy

He is present in the New Jersey Inventor's Hall of Fame

New Jersey Inventor's Hall of Fame

The New Jersey Inventor's Hall of Fame was established in 1987 to honor individuals and corporations in New Jersey for their invention contributions. Award recipients are recognized at the annual Award Banquet Dinner...

; and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame

National Inventors Hall of Fame

The National Inventors Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recognizing, honoring and encouraging invention and creativity through the administration of its programs. The Hall of Fame honors the men and women responsible for the great technological advances that make human,...

in February 2005, a few months before his death.