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John Stanley Griffith

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John Stanley Griffith (1928–1972) was a British chemist and biophysicist.

His early work was in the inorganic chemistry of transition metal ions and ligand field theory.[1]

During the 1960s, Griffith and radiation biologist Tikvah Alper developed the hypothesis that some transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are caused by an infectious agent consisting solely of proteins.[2][3] This idea was eventually developed by Prusiner and others into the so-called prion hypothesis. In 1951, when he was just 23, at Francis Crick's suggestion, Griffith performed quantum mechanical calculations on what later became known as complementary base pairing.[4] Griffith was the nephew of the distinguished British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith.

See also

References

  1. ^ Lagnado, John (August 2005). "From pabulum to prions (via DNA): a tale of two Griffiths" (PDF). The Biochemist. Biochemical Society. Retrieved 3 July 2018. his first book, The Theory of Transition-Metal Ions, which had a lasting impact on inorganic chemistry and is arguably the definitive work in this field.
  2. ^ Alper T, Cramp WA, Haig DA, Clarke MC (May 1967). "Does the agent of scrapie replicate without nucleic acid?". Nature. 214 (5090): 764–6. Bibcode:1967Natur.214..764A. doi:10.1038/214764a0. PMID 4963878. S2CID 4195902.
  3. ^ Griffith JS (Sep 1967). "Self-replication and scrapie". Nature. 215 (5105): 1043–4. Bibcode:1967Natur.215.1043G. doi:10.1038/2151043a0. PMID 4964084. S2CID 4171947.
  4. ^ John Lagnado (August 2005). "From pabulum to prions (via DNA): a tale of two Griffiths" (PDF). The Biochemist: 33–35.