Lloyd Conover

Lloyd Hillyard Conover (June 13, 1923 – March 11, 2017) was an American chemist and the inventor of tetracycline. For this invention, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Conover was the first to make an antibiotic by chemically modifying a naturally produced drug. He had close to 300 patents to his name.

Career In 1941, Conover began studying chemistry at Amherst College, but his studies were interrupted by World War II. He then joined the Navy, serving three years in the Pacific on an amphibious landing ship, ultimately rising to the rank of lieutenant junior grade. After the war, he returned to Amherst, receiving his B.A. degree in 1947. His success led to the process being used to produce other superior structurally modified antibiotics. This is a standard practice in the industry today.

Conover applied for a patent on tetracycline in 1953, and one was granted in 1955. Within three years, tetracycline became the most prescribed broad spectrum antibiotic in the U.S. During this time, the patent was challenged. In 1982, the courts upheld the patent and the right of scientists to patent based on similar methods.

In 1971, Conover became research director at Pfizer Central Research in Sandwich, England. In 1984, he retired as a senior vice president.

Conover died in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of 93.