Piotr Slonimski

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Piotr Slonimski (born November 9, 1922 in Warsaw , † April 25, 2009 in Paris ) was a French molecular biologist and geneticist .

Antoni Słonimski (left) and Piotr Słonimski (right)

Slonimski took part in the Warsaw Uprising , which his father, a zoologist, fell victim to. After the war he continued his medical studies and received his doctorate (Dr. med.) From the University of Krakow in 1947 . He continued his studies in Paris at the Sorbonne , where he received his doctorate in 1952. There he examined the genetics of mitochondrial DNA in yeast cells in Boris Ephrussi's laboratory . These also formed the study area of ​​his further research, which finally led to the first complete decoding of the genome of a eukaryote (yeast) (with 12.6 million base pairs), in which his laboratory was significantly involved. Slonimski became Professor of Genetics at the University of Paris VI and in 1971 Director of the Laboratory of Physiological Genetics at the Center for Molecular Genetics of the CNRS in Gif-sur-Yvette, and in 1991 he retired. One of his main areas of work was still the genetics of mitochondrial genes.

He had been a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences since 1974 , was a member of the Polish and Belgian Academies of Sciences, the Academia Europaea , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Académie des Sciences . He received several honorary doctorates and in 1985 received the CNRS gold medal . In 1978 he received the Prix ​​Charles-Léopold Mayer .

The poet Antoni Słonimski was his uncle.

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personal data
SURNAME Slonimski, Piotr
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French molecular biologist and geneticist
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 2009
Place of death Paris