Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg | |
---|---|
Sylvy Ruth Levy (1943–1986; her death; 3 children) Charlene Walsh Levering (1988–1995; her death) Carolyn Frey Dixon (1998–2007; his death)[2] | |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Molecular biology |
Institutions | National Institutes of Health Washington University in St. Louis Stanford University |
Doctoral students | Randy Schekman James Spudich Tania A. Baker |
Arthur Kornberg (March 3, 1918 – October 26, 2007) was an American
His primary research interests were in biochemistry, especially enzyme chemistry, deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis (DNA replication) and studying the nucleic acids which control heredity in animals, plants, bacteria and viruses.[1][4]
Early life and education
Born in New York City, Kornberg was the son of
Arthur Kornberg was educated first at
Kornberg's internship was at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, in 1941–1942. After completing his medical training, he joined the armed services as a lieutenant in the United States Coast Guard, serving as a ship's doctor in 1942 in the Caribbean. Rolla Dyer, the Director of National Institutes of Health, had noticed his paper and invited him to join the research team at the Nutrition Laboratory of the NIH. From 1942 to 1945, Kornberg's work was the feeding of specialized diets to rats to discover new vitamins.
Research and career
The feeding of rats was boring work, and Kornberg became fascinated by enzymes. He transferred to
While working at NIH, he also researched at Washington University in St. Louis (in the lab of Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Cori in 1947), and the University of California, Berkeley (in the lab of Horace Barker in 1951).[7]
In 1953 he became professor and head of the department of microbiology, Washington University in St. Louis, until 1959. Here he continued experimenting with the enzymes which created DNA. In 1956 he isolated the first DNA polymerizing enzyme, now known as DNA polymerase I. This got him elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1957 and won him the Nobel prize in 1959.[8][9]
In 1960, he was elected to the
Kornberg's mother died of gas gangrene from a
The Arthur Kornberg Medical Research Building at the University of Rochester Medical Center was named in his honor in 1999.
Until his death, Kornberg maintained an active research laboratory at Stanford and regularly published scientific journal articles. For several years the focus of his research was the metabolism of
The "Kornberg school" of biochemistry refers to Arthur Kornberg's many graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, i.e., his intellectual children, and the trainees of his trainees, i.e., his intellectual grandchildren. Kornberg's intellectual children include I. Robert Lehman,[1] Charles C. Richardson, Randy Schekman, William T. Wickner, James Rothman, Arturo Falaschi and Ken-ichi Arai.
Books
- "Germ Stories". University Science Books, 2007, ISBN 1891389513
- For the Love of Enzymes: The Odyssey of a Biochemist. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1989, ISBN 0-674-30776-3
- The Golden Helix: Inside Biotech Ventures. University Science Books, 2002, ISBN 1-891389-19-X
- Enzymatic Synthesis of DNA, John Wiley & Sons, 1961
- DNA Synthesis, W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1974 ISBN 0-7167-0586-9
- DNA Replication, W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1980 ISBN 0-7167-1102-8
- DNA Replication (2nd Edition) with ISBN 0-7167-2003-5
Personal life
On November 21, 1943, Kornberg married Sylvy Ruth Levy, also a biochemist of note. She worked closely with Kornberg and contributed significantly to the discovery of DNA polymerase. According to their second son, Thomas, “the joke in the family—and it was just a joke—was that when the prize was announced, she said 'I was robbed!’”[12]
Arthur and Sylvy Kornberg had three sons: Roger David Kornberg (1947), Thomas B. Kornberg (1948), and Kenneth Andrew Kornberg (1950). Roger is Professor of Structural Biology at Stanford University, and the 2006 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Thomas discovered DNA polymerase II and III in 1970 and is now a professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Kenneth is an architect specializing in the design of biomedical and biotechnology laboratories and buildings.
Arthur Kornberg was married three times. His first two wives predeceased him. Sylvy Kornberg died in 1986. Arthur Kornberg remarried in 1988 but his second wife, the former Charlene Walsh Levering, died in 1995. In December 1998 Arthur Kornberg married Carolyn Frey Dixon.
When he was in his eighties, Kornberg continued to conduct research full-time at department of biochemistry at Stanford. He died on October 26, 2007, at Stanford Hospital from respiratory failure.
See also
References
- ^ S2CID 72666521.
- ^ Altman, Lawrence K. (October 28, 2007). "Arthur Kornberg, Biochemist, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ "DNA replication | why we have to study DNA replication?". Microb Life. May 25, 2020. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
- ISBN 0-19-850912-X. "Arthur Kornberg (M59), Jerome Karle (C85), and Paul Berg (C80) all went to the Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn."
- ISBN 978-0-313-33528-0.
- ISBN 978-1438109176.
- ^ "Arthur Kornberg". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ Kresge, Nicole; Simoni, Robert D.; Hill, Robert L. (2005). "Arthur Kornberg's Discovery of DNA Polymerase I". J. Biol. Chem. 280 (46). Archived from the original on November 6, 2008. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg Colleagues Archived 2012-01-12 at the Wayback Machine; click "Kornberg, Arthur"
- ^ "Sylvy Kornberg: Biography of a Biochemist". The Scientist Magazine. June 13, 2017.
External links
- Arthur Kornberg on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture on December 11, 1959 The Biologic Synthesis of Deoxyribonucleic Acid
- Stanford University page
- Obituary in The Independent. November 3, 2007.
- Obituary in The Times. November 7, 2007.
- Obituary in New York Times. October 28, 2007.
- The Arthur Kornberg Papers - Profiles in Science, National Library of Medicine
- Never A Dull Enzyme Autobiography by Arthur Kornberg, July 1989.
- Arthur Kornberg, Nobel Laureate and Towering Biomedical Scientist, Dies at 89
- National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir