Peter Lim holds the records for the longest-running project in the history of SRI. His analytical chemistry project for the National Cancer Institute, started in 1956, is still going strong after almost 50 years.
After receiving his Ph.D. at the Berkeley campus of the University of California in 1956, Peter Lim joined Stanford Research Institute to work with B. R. Baker, who had just arrived from the Southern Research Institute to start a program for the synthesis of new potential anticancer agents sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). At that time, infrared (IR) spectroscopy was just emerging as an extremely useful technique for identifying structures of organic molecules. Peter Lim became an expert in the analysis of IR spectra and used that capability to analyze all the reaction products of new molecules generated by 12-15 organic chemists in SRI’s cancer group.
In about 1956, an organizational change occurred at NCI, and all analytical chemistry was spun off from the synthesis program and funded as a separate contract. Peter applied for and received this major NCI analytical project, which continues to this day under the leadership of senior chemists trained by Peter. This was the start of the analytical chemistry group in Life Sciences. Peter Lim served as the group’s leader, and in 1979, he became Director of the Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis in the Life Sciences Division. For over 25 years, he maintained a staff of 10 to 15 chemists at a sold time greater than 90%.
Other significant analytical programs brought to SRI under Peter’s leadership included a project from the Walter Reed Institute to analyze antimalarial compounds and a project from the U.S. Army for analyzing chemical defense agents. These projects also continue to this day. In addition, many short-term commercial projects were obtained as a result of Peter’s expertise and reputation for quality work.
Peter Lim’s legacy to SRI is his demonstration of the kind of excellent work that it takes to continue to satisfy the needs of a major client over many years—a talent crucial to the continued success of SRI.