Sanford Palay

Sanford Louis "Sandy" Palay (23 September 1918 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States – 5 August 2002 in Concord, Massachusetts, United States) was an American scientist and educator.

Palay received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College. Upon graduation in 1940, he entered the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University to study bacteriology. He changed his mind, and decided to study medicine, later specializing in neuroscience. He applied for a summer fellowship during his first year of medical school and was accepted into the laboratory of Ernst and Berta Scharrer, where Palay carried out his first investigations. Palay's professional and personal association with the Scharrers continued throughout his career.

After completing his M.D. degree in 1943, Palay spent a year as an intern at New Haven Hospital, while in the evenings continuing his research into neurosecretion at the Department of Anatomy at Yale University. At the end of his internship, he returned to Case Western Reserve, with appointments as a research and teaching fellow.

Ernst Scharrer suggested that Palay consider going to the Rockefeller Institute to work with Albert Claude, an early researcher into cell biology. However Palay was called up to serve with the Army Medical Corps in occupied Japan. This interrupted his scientific career, but he began a lifelong interest in Japanese art and culture.

On his return from the forces, Palay took Ernst Scharrer's advice and went to the Rockefeller Institute to work with Albert Claude. They spent a year examining salivary gland chromosomes by electron microscopy, using formvar replicas. This was one of the few means available at that time for examining biological specimens by electron microscopy.

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