John O. Edwards, A Half-Century of Peroxide Chemistry

A brief summary is presented of the life and scientific work of Prof. John O. Edwards (Brown University, USA) and honorary member of the Italian Chemical Society who died recently. We summarize his notable contributions to the development of peroxide chemistry and, in particular, to mechanisms of oxidation, the reactions of electrophilic oxygen with nucleophiles, the generation of radical species, catalysis by transition metal species, and the reactions of the elusive peroxynitrite.