E. J. Corey has been a Professor at Harvard University since 1959. He was educated at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1945-1950) and served as a faculty member at the University of Illinois from1951 to 1959. He is the 1990 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, and the recipient of over seventy international awards and honorary degrees, including the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Japan Prize in Science, and the Priestley Medal of the American Chemical Society. He is amember of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Institute of Medicine. Professor Corey is the author of more than 1,000 publications and is one of the most cited authors in science.

Barbara Czakó completed undergraduate studies at the University of Debrecen, Hungary, where she worked with Dr. Sándor Berényi. She obtained a Master of Science degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia with Professor Shon R. Pulley. Dr. Czakó received her Ph.D. degree (2006) in synthetic organic chemistry under the guidance of Professor Gary A. Molander at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently she is a postdoctoral fellow with Professor E.J. Corey at Harvard University. In 2005 she published with László Kürti the textbook Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis.

László Kürti was born and raised in Hungary. He received his diploma from the University of Debrecen, Hungary, where he conducted research in the laboratory of Professor Sándor Antus. Subsequently he received his Master of Science degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia working with Professor Michael Harmata, and his Ph.D. degree (2006) in synthetic organic chemistry under the supervision of Professor Amos B. Smith III (the University of Pennsylvania). Currently he is a Damon Runyon Cancer Fellow in the group of Professor E.J. Corey at Harvard University. In 2005 he published with Barbara Czakó the textbook Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis.