Seymour Benzer
| Seymour Benzer | |
|---|---|
Seymour Benzer with a Drosophila model, 1974
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| Born |
October 15, 1921 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 30, 2007 (aged 86) Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Physics, molecular biology, behavioral genetics, chronobiology, neurogenetics |
| Institutions |
Purdue University California Institute of Technology |
| Alma mater |
Brooklyn College (B.S.) Purdue University (M.S., Ph.D, 1947) |
| Thesis | Photoelectric Effects in Germanium (1947) |
| Known for | molecular and behavioral biology |
| Influences | Roger Wolcott Sperry, Max Delbrück, Salvador Luria, Alfred Sturtevant |
| Influenced | Richard Feynman, Francis Crick, Sydney Brenner |
| Notable awards |
Gairdner Foundation International Award (1964, 2004) Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1976) Harvey Prize (1977) Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal (1986) Wolf Prize in Medicine (1991) Crafoord Prize (1993) International Prize for Biology (2000) Fellow of the Royal Society |
Seymour Benzer (October 15, 1921 – November 30, 2007) was an American physicist, molecular biologist and behavioral geneticist. His career began during the molecular biology revolution of the 1950s, and he eventually rose to prominence in the fields of molecular and behavioral genetics. He led a productive genetics research lab both at Purdue University and as the James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience, Emeritus, at the California Institute of Technology.
Benzer was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, to Meyer B. and Eva Naidorf, both Jews from Poland. He had two older sisters, and his parents favored him as the only boy. One of Benzer's earliest scientific experiences was dissecting frogs he had caught as a boy. In an interview at Caltech, Benzer also remembered receiving a microscope for his 13th birthday, “and that opened up the whole world.” The book "Arrowsmith" by Sinclair Lewis heavily influenced the young Benzer, and he even imitated the handwriting of Max Gottlieb, a scientist character in the novel. Benzer graduated from high school at 15 years old.
In 1938 he enrolled at Brooklyn College where he majored in physics. Benzer then moved on to Purdue University to earn his Ph.D. in solid state physics. While there he was recruited for a secret military project to develop improved radar. He performed research that led to the development of stable germanium rectifiers and discovered a germanium crystal able to be used at high voltages, among the scientific work that led to the first transistor.
At Brooklyn College, as a sixteen-year-old freshman, Benzer met Dorothy Vlosky (nicknamed Dotty), a twenty-one-year-old nurse. He later married her in New York City in 1942. They had two daughters, Barbie (Barbara) and Martha Jane.
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