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Alfred Hershey

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Alfred Hershey
Born
Alfred Day Hershey

(1908-12-04)December 4, 1908
Owosso, Michigan, US
DiedMay 22, 1997(1997-05-22) (aged 88)
Syosset, New York, US
Alma materMichigan State University
Known forProof of DNA as genetic material of life
AwardsAlbert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1958)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1969)
Scientific career
FieldsBacteriology, genetics, DNA
InstitutionsWashington University School of Medicine

Alfred Day Hershey (December 4, 1908 – May 22, 1997) was an American Nobel Prize–winning bacteriologist and geneticist.

He was born in Owosso, Michigan and received his B.S. in chemistry at Michigan State University in 1930 and his Ph.D. in bacteriology in 1934, taking a position shortly thereafter at the Department of Bacteriology at Washington University in St. Louis.[1][2]

Around 1943, Hershey met bacteriophage researchers Max Delbrück, then at Vanderbilt University, and Salvador Luria at Columbia University. Hershey became part of their informal network of biologists, known as the Phage group.[1][3] Hershey began performing experiments with bacteriophages with Italian-American Prima Luria, German Max Delbrück, and observed that when two different strains of bacteriophage have infected the same bacteria, the two viruses may exchange genetic information.[3]

In 1950 Hershey married his research partner Martha Chase at Laurel Hollow, New York and joined the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Genetics. There he and his wife Martha Chase performed the famous Hershey–Chase experiment in 1952.[4] This experiment provided additional evidence that DNA, not protein, was the genetic material of life.[5][6] Notable post-doctoral fellows in Hershey's lab include Anna Marie Skalka.[1]

Hershey became director of the Carnegie Institution (which later became Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) in 1962 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969, shared with Salvador Luria and Max Delbrück for their discovery on the replication of viruses and their genetic structure.*[7][8][9][10][11][12]

Hershey officially retired in 1970, but lived on the grounds of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for the rest of his life. In 1971, he edited The Bacteriophage λ, an extensive volume on the subject, published by Cold Spring Harbor.[1]

In 1981, Hershey became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.[13]

Hershey had one child, Peter Manning Hershey (1956-1999) with his wife Harriet Davidson (1918-2000). The family was active in the social network of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and regularly enjoyed the beach in season. Hershey was a Christian. Hershey died from congestive heart failure on 22 May 1997 at his home in Syosset, New York, at 88 years old. [14]

After Hershey died, another phage worker, Frank Stahl, wrote: "The Phage Church, as we were sometimes called (see Phage group), was led by the Trinity of Delbrück, Luria, and Hershey. Delbrück's status as founder and his ex cathedra manner made him the pope, of course, and Luria was the hard-working, socially sensitive priest-confessor. And Al (Hershey) was the saint."[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Campbell, Allan; Stahl, Franklin W. (December 1998). "Alfred D. Hershey". Annual Review of Genetics. 32 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1146/annurev.genet.32.1.1. ISSN 0066-4197. PMID 9928472.
  2. ^ a b Stahl, F W (2001). "Alfred Day Hershey" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. 80. United States: 142–59. PMID 15202470. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Shampo, M A; Kyle R A (November 1999). "Max Delbrück and molecular genetics". Mayo Clin. Proc. 74 (11). United States: 1124. doi:10.4065/74.11.1124. ISSN 0025-6196. PMID 10560600.
  4. ^ Hershey, AD; Chase, M (May 1952). "Independent functions of viral protein and nucleic acid in growth of bacteriophage". The Journal of General Physiology. 36 (1): 39–56. doi:10.1085/jgp.36.1.39. PMC 2147348. PMID 12981234.
  5. ^ Stahl, Franklin W (May 1, 1998). "Hershey". Genetics. 149 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1093/genetics/149.1.1. ISSN 0016-6731. PMC 1460125. PMID 9584081.
  6. ^ Hernandez, Victoria. "The Hershey-Chase Experiments (1952), by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase | The Embryo Project Encyclopedia". Embryo Project Encyclopediadate= June 23, 2019. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  7. ^ Malmgren, B (October 1969). "[The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to 3 bacteriophage researchers]". Nordisk Medicin. 82 (44). Sweden: 1369–75. ISSN 0029-1420. PMID 4903832. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  8. ^ Shampo, Marc A; Kyle Robert A (May 2004). "Alfred Hershey--Nobel Prize for work in virology". Mayo Clin. Proc. 79 (5). United States: 590. doi:10.4065/79.5.590. ISSN 0025-6196. PMID 15132399.
  9. ^ Raju, T N (August 1999). "The Nobel chronicles. 1969: Max Delbrück (1906-81); Salvador Luria (1912-91); and Alfred Hershey (1908-97)". Lancet. 354 (9180). ISRAEL: 784. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)76036-0. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 10475234. S2CID 54370314.
  10. ^ "[Nobel prize winners of 1969]". Orvosi Hetilap. 111 (8). Hungary: 453–5. February 1970. ISSN 0030-6002. PMID 4906087.
  11. ^ Datta, R K; Datta B (December 1969). "Nobel prize winners in medicine". Journal of the Indian Medical Association. 53 (12). India: 610–1. ISSN 0019-5847. PMID 4903713.
  12. ^ de Haan, P G (December 1969). "[Delbrück, Hershey and Luria, Nobel Prize winners]". Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde. 113 (49). NETHERLANDS: 2198–9. ISSN 0028-2162. PMID 4903007.
  13. ^ "Founding Members of the World Cultural Council". World Cultural Council. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  14. ^ Cairns, J (July 1997). "Alfred Hershey (1908-97)". Nature. 388 (6638). England: 130. Bibcode:1997Natur.388..130.. doi:10.1038/40529. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 9217149. S2CID 205027895.
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