Brief Chronology

  • 1926 --Born in Brooklyn, NY, June 30
  • 1943-46 --Military service, U.S. Navy
  • 1947 --Married Mildred Levy
  • 1948 --BS from Pennsylvania State University
  • 1950-52 --Predoctoral Research Fellow, National Institutes of Health
  • 1952 --PhD in biochemistry from Western Reserve University
  • 1952-54 --Postdoctoral Research Fellow, American Cancer Society; Dr. Hermann Kalckar, Institute of Cytophysiology, Copenhagen; Dr. Arthur Kornberg, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
  • 1954 --Scholar in Cancer Research, American Cancer Society, Department of Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine
  • 1955-59 --Assistant and Associate Professor of Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine
  • 1959 --Eli Lilly Award in Biochemistry
  • 1959-60 --Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine
  • 1960-69 --Professor of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine
  • 1966 --Elected to National Academy of Sciences
  • 1967-68 --Sabbatical year at Salk Institute
  • 1969-74 --Chairman, Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine
  • 1972 --Engineered the first recombinant DNA molecule
  • 1974-75 --Organized and chaired the Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA Molecules
  • 1970-94 --Sam, Lulu, and Jack Willson Professor of Biochemistry
  • 1980 --Received Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
  • 1983 --Awarded National Medal of Science
  • 1985-2000 --Director, Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine
  • 1994-2000 --Vivian K. and Robert W. Cahill Professor in Cancer Research
  • 2000-2023--Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry
  • 2023--Died at home in California, February 15.