Bruce Alberts
| Bruce Alberts | |
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| Born | Bruce Michael Alberts April 14, 1938 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields |
Biochemistry Biophysics |
| Institutions |
Harvard University University of Geneva Princeton University National Academy of Sciences UCSF Science (journal) |
| Alma mater |
Harvard College (BSc) Harvard University (PhD) |
| Thesis | Characterization of Naturally Occurring, Cross-Linked Fraction of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (1966) |
| Doctoral advisor | Paul Doty |
| Known for | Molecular Biology of the Cell |
| Notable awards |
NAS Award in Molecular Biology (1975) Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2005) Vannevar Bush Award (2010) National Medal of Science (2012) |
| Spouse | Betty Neary Alberts |
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Website biochemistry |
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 Bruce Alberts, “Learning from failure”, iBioMagazine |
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Bruce Alberts, “DNA Replication”, iBioMagazine |
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Bruce Alberts, ”Redefining Science Education”, Distinctive Voices |
Bruce Michael Alberts (born April 14, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American biochemist and the Chancellor’s Leadership Chair in Biochemistry and Biophysics for Science and Education at the University of California, San Francisco. He has done important work studying the protein complexes which enable chromosome replication when living cells divide. He is known as an original author of the "canonical, influential, and best-selling scientific textbook" Molecular Biology of the Cell, and as Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine.
Alberts was the president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1993 to 2005. He is known for his work in forming science public policy, and has served as United States Science Envoy to Pakistan and Indonesia. He has stated that "Science education should be about learning to think and solve problems like a scientist—insisting, for all citizens, that statements be evaluated using evidence and logic the way scientists evaluate statements."
After graduating from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, Alberts attended Harvard College, as a pre-medicine major. Bored by assigned laboratory "cooking classes", he petitioned to skip the physical chemistry laboratory requirement and instead was allowed to work with his tutor Jacques Fresco, in Paul M. Doty's laboratory. The summer's research led to the publication of two successful papers on mismatch errors in the helical structures of DNA and RNA, and Alberts decided to continue on in biophysics. He graduated with his A.B. in biochemical sciences, summa cum laude, in 1960.
Alberts then worked with Paul M. Doty on an "enormously ambitious" thesis on DNA replication, attempting to solve the genetic code using nearest neighbor analysis of DNA polymerase. After failing his first oral examination in spring 1965, he completed his Ph.D. research in fall 1965. His doctorate in biophysics was published by Harvard University in 1966. Alberts credits his initial failure with teaching him much more than his successes. "That was a very important learning experience for me. I had decided that experimental strategy was everything in science, and nobody had ever told me anything about this."
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Wikipedia