The needs of medicine have inspired much of the progress in the biological sciences during the twentieth century.
In turn, many advances in pure science have quickly been harnessed toward understanding, preventing and treating
human disease. Molecular biology, the understanding of how life works at the most basic level, has enabled
researchers to learn about how organisms function and malfunction. The recent sequencing of the human genome
is providing an explosion of new information, the impact of which is just beginning to be felt, but which is expected
to revolutionize both scientific research and clinical practice.
- Christian B. Anfinsen
Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Jr. (1916-1995), was an American
biochemist who shared the 1972 Nobel Prize for work that helped
explain the structure and composition of proteins in living cells.
(Available November 2000; press release, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Oswald T. Avery
Oswald T. Avery (1877-1955) was one of this country's first molecular
biologists, whose findings proved that the genetic material is DNA.
(Available September 1998; press release, updated August 1999, January 2000, November 2002, May 2005, August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Julius Axelrod
Julius Axelrod (1912-2004) was an American pharmacologist and neuroscientist
who shared the 1970 Nobel Prize for his discovery of the actions of
neurotransmitters in regulating the metabolism of the nervous system.
(Available May 2000; press release, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Paul Berg
Paul Berg (b. 1926) is an American biochemist who
shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
"for his fundamental studies of the biochemistry
of nucleic acids, with particular regard to
recombinant-DNA."
(Available July 2008)
- Francis Crick
Francis Crick (1916-2004) was a British theoretical biologist who
shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his
"discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic
acids and its significance for information transfer in living
material."
(Available February 2005; press release, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) was a British chemist and
crystallographer best known for her role in the discovery
of the structure of DNA. Her x-ray diffraction photos of
DNA and her analysis of that data provided Francis Crick
and James Watson clues crucial to building their correct
theoretical model of the molecule in 1953.
(Available February 2007; press release, updated May 2007, March 2008)
- Donald S. Fredrickson
Donald S. Fredrickson (1924-2002) was an American physiologist and
biomedical research leader who made significant contributions to
medicine over the course of four decades.
(Available October 2002; press release, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Michael Heidelberger
Michael Heidelberger (1888-1991) was an American immunologist
and the founder of immunochemistry. His work led to an
expansion of the study of microorganisms, and laid a path for a new
understanding of infectious diseases, their treatment, and their
prevention. Heidelberger received the 1953 Lasker Award for Basic
Medical Research and the 1978 Lasker Award for Clinical Medical
Research.
(Available September 2006; announcement, updated December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg (1918-2007) was an American biochemist who
shared the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for
"discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis
of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid."
(Available October 2007; press release, updated March 2008)
- Joshua Lederberg
Joshua Lederberg (1925-2008) was an American geneticist and microbiologist
who received the Nobel Prize in 1958 for "his discoveries
concerning genetic recombination and the organization of the genetic material of bacteria."
(Available March 1999; press release, updated January 2000, June 2000, February 2001, September 2001, November 2001, June 2002, November 2002, June 2004, May 2005; announcement, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Salvador E. Luria
Salvador E. Luria (1912-1991) was an Italian-born bacteriologist who
shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his
"discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic
structure of viruses."
(Available September 2005; press release, updated December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Barbara McClintock
Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) was an American geneticist who
won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering
the ability of genes to change position on the chromosome.
(Available October 2001; press release, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Marshall W. Nirenberg
Marshall W. Nirenberg (b. 1927) is an American biochemist who
shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on
deciphering the genetic code.
(Available May 2001; press release, updated November 2002, August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Linus Pauling
Linus Pauling (1901-1994) was an American chemist who won the
1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research into the nature of
the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the
structure of complex substances." He also won the 1962 Nobel Peace
Prize, making him the only person to win two unshared Nobel prizes.
(Available February 2002, updated June 2002, February 2003; press release, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Martin Rodbell
Martin Rodbell (1925-1998) was an American biochemist and molecular
endocrinologist who shared the Nobel Prize in 1994
for his discovery of G-proteins and the principles of signal transduction in
cellular communication.
(Available November 1999; press release, updated January 2000, August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Florence R. Sabin
Florence R. Sabin (1871-1953) was an American anatomist and medical researcher.
She received a Lasker Award in 1951 for her work in public health.
(Available August 2003; press release, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Maxine Singer
Maxine Singer (b. 1931) is an American molecular biologist
who made important contributions to the deciphering of the
genetic code. She also served as an effective champion of women
in science, of improvements in science education, and of
scientists who engage in public policy debates.
(Available December 2007; announcement, updated March 2008)
- Sol Spiegelman
Sol Spiegelman (1914-1983) was an American molecular biologist
whose discoveries laid the foundations of recombinant DNA technology.
He received the 1974 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
"for his contributions to molecular biology including techniques
of molecular hybridization and the first synthesis of an infectious
nucleic acid."
(Available July 2007; press release, updated March 2008)
- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1893-1986) was a Hungarian-born biochemist who
won the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "his
discoveries concerning the biological combustion processes"
with especial reference to vitamin C and to the fumaric acid catalyst.
(Available June 2005; press release, updated August 2005, December 2005, July 2006, December 2006, May 2007, March 2008)
- Harold Varmus
Harold Varmus (b. 1939) is an American physician who
shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for
discovery of "the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes."
Varmus became the first Nobel laureate to head the
National Institutes of Health.
(Available December 2006; press release, updated May 2007, March 2008)
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