https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/business/lloyd-conover-dead-inventor-of-groundbreaking-antibiotic.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fobituaries&action=click&contentCollection=obituaries®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
His interest in chemistry began in childhood when he watched his father mix cement to repair a retaining wall.
“There was something about the physical change in matter that really fascinated me,” he said in an interview for this obituary.
To feed his curiosity, he devised science projects with items he found around his house. In one instance, he took his mother’s pots and pans and melted down lead left behind by a plumber to make a miniature cannon that fired lead pellets, powered by steam.
He entered Amherst College in 1941 to study chemistry, but his education was interrupted by World War II.