Brief Chronology

  • 1925 --Born in Baltimore, Maryland, December 1, son of Milton W. Rodbell (1902-1961), a grocery store owner, and Shirley Abrams Rodbell (1904-1982)
  • 1943 --Enters The Johns Hopkins University; studies biology and French literature
  • 1944-46 --Education interrupted: drafted into the Navy; serves as a radio operator in the South Pacific, China, the Philippines, and Korea
  • 1949 --Receives BS in biology, The Johns Hopkins University
  • 1949-50 --Post-graduate study in chemistry at Hopkins
  • 1950 --Marries Barbara Charlotte Ledermann; four children; seven grandchildren
  • 1950 --Moves to Seattle and enters PhD program in biochemistry, University of Washington
  • 1954 --Completes PhD thesis, "Some Aspects of Lecithin Metabolism in the Liver," under Donald H. Hanahan
  • 1954-56 --Postdoctoral position at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; research associate in biochemistry, working with Herbert Carter
  • 1956-61 --National Heart Institute, NIH, working with Christian Anfinsen as research chemist in Laboratory of Cellular Physiology and Metabolism
  • 1960-61 --NIH-sponsored training at University of Brussels, Belgium, and Leiden University, The Netherlands
  • 1961-67 --National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, working under DeWitt Stetten as research chemist in the Laboratory of Nutrition and Endocrinology
  • 1967-68 --Institute of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Geneva, professor and acting director
  • 1968-75 --National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, Section on Membrane Regulation, chief
  • 1969 --Develops theory of "signal transduction" after conversations with Oscar H. Hechter
  • 1970 --Discovers role of GTP (guanosine triphosphate) in signal transduction
  • 1971 --Publishes core of work on G-proteins in a series of articles in the Journal of Biological Chemistry
  • 1975-85 --National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, Laboratory of Nutrition and Endocrinology, chief
  • 1981-83 --Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Geneva, visiting professor
  • 1984 --Receives Gairdner Foundation International Award
  • 1985-89 --National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, scientific director
  • 1987 --Inducted into the National Academy of Sciences; receives Richard Lounsbery Award.
  • 1989-94 --NIEHS, Section on Signal Transduction, chief
  • 1994 --Retires; becomes NIH Scientist Emeritus; shares Nobel Prize with Alfred G. Gilman (announced October 10, awarded December 10)
  • 1998 --Dies at Chapel Hill, December 7