Eric Block

Eric Block, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University at Albany, SUNY is a native New Yorker. He received his BS from Queens College of CUNY in 1962 and his PhD in chemistry from Harvard University in 1967, mentored by 1990 Nobel Laureate E. J. Corey, who first introduced him to the chemistry of the element sulfur. For the next 55+ years Block used his background in sulfur chemistry to explore Allium chemistry, particularly the chemistry of onions and garlic, as well as seeking to understand how we use our sense of smell to appreciate their aroma. This research is presented in Block’s 250+ scientific publications and five books, including his 2010 monograph Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and the Science. For his research on Allium chemistry, Block was named a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, recipient of the 2016 American Chemical Society’s Ernest Guenther Award for the Chemistry of Natural Products, and Fellow of the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other honors. His latest book, Organosulfur Chemistry for the Twenty-First Century (Elsevier, 2026) will substantially update his 1978 Academic Press monograph, Reactions of Organosulfur Compounds.