Joshua Lederberg
Joshua Lederberg (born May 23, 1925 in Montclair , New Jersey , † February 2, 2008 in New York ) was an American molecular biologist and geneticist .
Career
Joshua Lederberg, the son of a Jewish rabbi, attended high school in New York, studied zoology at Columbia University from 1941 to 1944, and received his doctorate ( Ph.D. ) from Yale University in 1947 with Edward Tatum .
He married the molecular biologist and geneticist Esther Lederberg and together with her developed the stamping technique for transferring a bacterial colony from one Petri dish to another.
From 1947 to 1959 he was a professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison , then at Stanford University in Palo Alto ( California ). In 1978 he returned to New York and became 5th President of Rockefeller University .
After his retirement in 1990 he returned to his laboratory and continued to devote himself to his own research projects and the training of students.
Research topics
In 1952, based on the research carried out by his wife Esther Lederberg , Lederberg and his student Norton Zinder were able to demonstrate that bacteriophages can transfer parts of a bacterial genome to another bacterium ( transduction ).
In the same year he introduced the term plasmid for the circular DNA present next to the main chromosomes . He also developed a process for replica plating .
In 1960 Joshua Lederberg coined the term exobiology .
In the 1960s, he and Edward Feigenbaum developed the chemical expert system Dendral .
honors and awards
- In 1957 Lederberg was elected to the National Academy of Sciences .
- In 1958, together with George W. Beadle and Edward Tatum , he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries about genetic recombinations and the organization of genetic material in bacteria .
- In 1959 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
- 1960 member of the American Philosophical Society .
- 1989 National Medal of Science
- 2002 Benjamin Franklin Medal from the American Philosophical Society
- In 2006 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom , the highest civilian honor in the United States.
literature
- Stephen S. Morse: Joshua Lederberg (1925-2008). In: Science . Volume 319, March 7, 2008, p. 1352, doi: 10.1126 / science.1156612
- Joshua Lederberg: Encyclopedia of microbiology. Vol. 1-4, Acad. Press, San Diego 2000, ISBN 0-12-226801-6
- Joshua Lederberg: Biological weapons - limiting the threat. MIT, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 0-262-12216-2
- Joshua Lederberg, 82, a Nobel Winner, Dies. In: The New York Times. February 5, 2008 (obituary)
Web links
- Information from the Nobel Foundation on the 1958 award ceremony for Joshua Lederberg (English)
- Joshua Lederberg 1925–2008 Biographical Memoir, National Academy of Sciences, Washington 2009 (pdf, 25 p. Accessed August 14, 2016; 175 kB)
Individual evidence
- ^ Renate Wagner: Lederberg, Joshua. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 833.
- ↑ Jane J. Lee: 6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism. In: National Geographic, May 19, 2013.
- ↑ Launching a New Science: Exobiology and the Exploration of Space - The Joshua Lederberg Papers The National Library of Medicine's Profiles in Science, 2009 (accessed January 1, 2010)
- ↑ Lederberg, Joshua (1925–2008) daviddarling.info (accessed January 1, 2010)
- ↑ Member History: Joshua Lederberg. American Philosophical Society, accessed November 21, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lederberg, Joshua |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American geneticist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 23, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Montclair , New Jersey , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 2, 2008 |
| Place of death | New York City , New York , USA |