Donald Dexter Van Slyke was a renowned Dutch American biochemist. Donald Dexter Van Slyke was born on March 4, 1971 in Pike, New York. He received a Bachelors degree in Chemistry and a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry (1907) from the University of Michigan. His achievements included the publication of 317 journal articles and 5 books, as well as numerous awards, among them the National Medal of Science and the first AMA Scientific Achievement Award. In 1914, Van Slyke was appointed chief chemist of the newly founded Rockefeller Institute Hospital, where he played a key part in developing the field of clinical chemistry. His work focused especially on the measurement of gas and electrolyte levels in tissues, for which he is considered to be one of the founders of modern quantitative blood chemistry. He died on May 4, 1971.