Robert Sauer Ph.D. '62 (Fuson) had this to say in response:
While the few facts surrounding the discovery of sodium
cyclohexyl sulfamate given in the two sentences are correct,
there were some other stories about this event that were
told during my days at Illinois. It was said that Sveda
was smoking while working in the lab and laid the cigarette
down on the edge of the bench, as many of us used to do.
When he picked it up to take a "drag", he tasted
the sweetness of a few crystals of the compound he had
inadvertently laid it in and, thus, discovered the artificial
sweetener. I think it should be pointed out that the probability
of this discovery being made today is extremely small,
given our political correctness: (1) smoking in the lab
is probably no longer permitted; and (2) OSHA would certainly
frown on smoking in the vicinity of chemical handling
and an event such as a scientist tasting a chemical (which
I hear Roger Adams, Speed Marvel and many others of the
"Old Guard" routinely did) would now require
an extensive investigation.
Please note this is partly "tongue in cheek",
but if chemistry had been as strictly regulated in my
earlier years as it is now, I have often wondered if I
would have become an organic chemist.
