Alex B. Novikoff
| Alex B. Novikoff | |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 February 1913 Semyonovka, Russian Empire (after 1917 USSR) |
| Died | 9 January 1987 (aged 73) New York City, US |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Cell biology, |
| Institutions |
Brooklyn College University of Vermont College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Known for | Cell organelles |
Alex Benjamin Novikoff (28 February 1913 – 9 January 1987) was a Ukrainian-born American biologist who is recognized for his pioneering works in the discoveries of cell organelles. His greatest achievements were in developing for studying the structure and functions of cells and their organelles. He is also recognized as a public figure of the mid-20th century at the height of McCarthyism in America. He was accused of his participitation in Communist Party as disloyalty to the nation. He was dismissed in 1953 from the University of Vermont College of Medicine where he was serving as a tenured professor, upon his refusal to cooperate in disclosing his communist friends. He was even denied twice of his willingness to serve in the US Army during the Second World War. Due to lack of substantial evidence, the case itself was dismissed after twenty years. The incident has become popularly known as the "Novikoff Affair", and is the most notable case of MaCarthyism in Vermont. In 1983, after thirty years of his banishment, the university made an apology by presenting him an honorary degree. He is regarded as one of the overlooked scientists to get Nobel Prize.
Novikoff was born to Jewish parents in the small town of Semenivka in Ukraine. Hoping to overcome severe poverty under the then Soviet Union, his family emigrated to the United States. The family settled in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York. His father earned their living by working as a salesman in a garment factory. Novikoff was a precocious boy, developing an early fascination for biology. His hobbies included skinning and dissecting animal corpses, and he once boiled a dead cat to observe its skeleton. He skipped four grades, and completed high school when he was only fourteen years of age. He graduated from Columbia University in 1931 at the age of eighteen. Even under financial constraints, the family encouraged him to study medicine. However antisemitism at the time prevented him from entering medical school. He therefore pursued the only open opportunity by continuing at the same university to study zoology. He joined the graduate school in 1931.
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