Norman Simmons
Norman S. Simmons | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 May 1915 |
| Died | 7 January 2004 (aged 88) |
| Education | City College of New York, Harvard University University of Rochester (Ph.D. 1950) |
| Known for | Isolating structurally pure DNA |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Dentistry, molecular biology |
| Institutions | UCLA Medical School, UCLA Dental School |
| Thesis | Investigation of Submaxillary Mucoid and the Defense Mechanisms of the Mouth |
Norman Simmons (May 28, 1915 – January 27, 2004)[1] was a DNA research pioneer.[1][2]
Life
[edit]Norman Simmons was born in New York City in 1915. He obtained a B.S. at the City College of New York, a D.M.D.at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in 1950 at University of Rochester, with a dissertation titled “Investigation of Submaxillary Mucoid and the Defense Mechanisms of the Mouth:" this was regarded as truly innovative.[1]
He was also a sculptor, painter, actor and musician, throughout his life. He died in Los Angeles in 2004, survived by his wife and two sons.
Career
[edit]He was appointed as a professor of biophysics and nuclear medicine in the UCLA Medical School, and of oral medicine in the UCLA Dental School, and he participated in the development of the latter.[1] He remained at UCLA for the whole of his career.
Research
[edit]Simmons worked with Elkan Blout[3] on proteins and polypeptides and was also recognized for isolating a structurally pure form of DNA.[4] This was the DNA which Rosalind Franklin used in her X-ray diffraction studies[5] that rewarded Maurice Wilkins, James Watson and Francis Crick with the Nobel Prize for the double helix model of DNA.[6] In his Nobel Prize lecture of 1962, Wilkins thanked Simmons "for having refined techniques of isolating DNA, and thereby helping a great many workers including ourselves."[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d In Memoriam: Norman Simmons on University of California website
- ^ "Obituaries". Harvard Dental Bulletin 10(4): 28. Fall 2004-Winter 2005.
- ^ Simmons, Norman S.; Blout, Elkan R. (1960). "Structure of tobacco mosaic virus and its components: ultraviolet optical rotatory dispersion". Biophys. J. 1: 55–62. doi:10.1016/s0006-3495(60)86875-0. PMC 1366312.
- ^ Kay, Ernest R. M.; Simmons, Norman S.; Dounce, Alexander L. (1952). "An Improved Preparation of Sodium Desoxyribonucleate". J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 74 (7): 1724–1726. doi:10.1021/ja01127a034.
- ^ Franklin, R.E.; Gosling, R.G. (1953). "Molecular configuration in sodium thymonucleate". Nature. 171: 740–741. doi:10.1038/171740a0.
- ^ Watson, J.D.; Crick, F.H.C. (1953). "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: a Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid". Nature. 171: 737–738.
- ^ Wilkins, Maurice H. “The Molecular Configuration of Nucleic Acids.” Nobel Lectures, 1942-1962, 1962, p. 781.
External links
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- American molecular biologists
- American biochemists
- American dentists
- 1915 births
- 2004 deaths
- American dentistry academics
- 20th-century dentists
- City College of New York alumni
- Harvard School of Dental Medicine alumni
- University of Rochester alumni
- David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty
- UCLA School of Dentistry faculty
- American biochemist stubs