Editing Monsanto (section)

====1960s and 1970s====
In the mid‑1960s, [[William Standish Knowles]] and his team invented a way to selectively synthesize [[enantiomers]] via [[asymmetric hydrogenation]]. This was the first method for the [[Catalysis|catalytic]] production of pure [[Chirality (chemistry)|chiral]] compounds.<ref>William S. Knowles. [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2001/knowles-lecture.pdf ASYMMETRIC HYDROGENATIONS]. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2001</ref> Knowles' team designed the "first industrial process to chirally synthesize an important compound"—[[L-dopa|L‑dopa]], which is used to treat [[Parkinson's disease]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yun |first=O. |date=November 22, 2005 |title=Profile of William S. Knowles |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=102 |pages=16913–16915 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0507546102 |pmc=1287994 |pmid=16286647 |issue=47|bibcode=2005PNAS..10216913Y |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 2001, Knowles and [[Ryōji Noyori]] won the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]]. In the mid-1960s, chemists at Monsanto developed the [[Monsanto process]] for making [[acetic acid]], which until 2000 was the most widely used production method. In 1964, Monsanto chemists invented [[AstroTurf]] (initially ChemGrass).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astroturf.com/1964/06/|title=June – 1964 – AstroTurf|access-date=June 15, 2015|archive-date=July 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714075949/http://www.astroturf.com/1964/06/}}</ref>

In the 1960s and 1970s, Monsanto was a producer of [[Agent Orange]] for [[United States Armed Forces]] operations in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], and settled out of court in a lawsuit brought by veterans in 1984.<ref name="EncNatSec">"Agent Orange" entry in Encyclopedia of United States National Security, edited by Richard J. Samuel. SAGE Publications, 2005. {{ISBN|9781452265353}}</ref>{{rp|6}} In 1968, it became the first company to start mass production of (visible) [[light-emitting diode]]s (LEDs), using [[gallium arsenide]] [[phosphide]]. From 1968 to 1970, sales doubled every few months. Their products (discrete LEDs and seven-segment numeric displays) became industry standards. The primary markets then were [[Calculator|electronic calculators]], [[Watch|digital watches]] and digital clocks.<ref name="Schubert">{{Cite book|author=E. Fred Schubert|title=Light-Emitting Diodes|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|chapter=1|isbn=978-0-8194-3956-7}}</ref> Monsanto became a pioneer of [[optoelectronics]] in the 1970s.

Between 1968 and 1974, the company sponsored the [[PGA Tour]] event in Pensacola, Florida, which was renamed the [[Pensacola Open|Monsanto Open]].

In 1974, [[Harvard University]] and Monsanto signed a 10-year [[Medical research#Privately .28industry.29 funded biomedical research|research grant]] to support the cancer research of [[Judah Folkman]], which became the largest such arrangement ever made; medical inventions arising from that research were the first for which Harvard allowed its faculty to submit [[patent application]].<ref name=NASbio>[[Patricia K. Donahoe]]. [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/folkman-judah.pdf Judah Folkman: 1933–2008. A Biographical Memoir] National Academy of Sciences, 2014</ref><ref name=HarvardBIo>Harvard Medical School [http://fa.hms.harvard.edu/files/memorialminute_folkman_judah.pdf Bio at Harvard Medical School]</ref>