Arthur Kornberg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arthur Kornberg
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Arthur Kornberg
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| Born | March 3, 1918 New York City, U.S.
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| Died | October 26, 2007 (aged 89) Palo Alto, California, U.S.
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| Alma mater | City College of New York University of Rochester |
| Spouse(s) | Sylvy Ruth Levy (1943–1986; her death; 3 children) Charlene Walsh Levering (1988–1995; her death) Carolyn Frey Dixon (1998–2007; his death) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular biology |
| Institutions | National Institutes of Health Washington University in St. Louis Stanford University |
| Doctoral students | Randy Schekman James Spudich Tania A. Baker |
Arthur Kornberg (born March 3, 1918 – died October 26, 2007) was an American biochemist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959. This award was for his work on how ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid are made in living things. He shared the prize with Severo Ochoa, a Spanish biochemist.
Kornberg was also honored with several other awards. These included the Paul-Lewis Award in Enzyme Chemistry in 1951 and the National Medal of Science in 1979. His main research focused on biochemistry, especially how enzymes work. He also studied how DNA is made and how nucleic acids control what we inherit. This includes how traits are passed down in animals, plants, bacteria, and viruses.
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Arthur Kornberg's Early Life and School
Arthur Kornberg was born in New York City. His parents, Joseph and Lena Kornberg, were Jewish immigrants. They came to New York from a part of Europe called Austrian Galicia (now Poland) in 1900. Arthur's grandfather changed the family name to avoid military service.
His father, Joseph, worked hard in tough conditions for almost 30 years. Later, he opened a small hardware store in Brooklyn. Arthur helped customers there when he was only nine years old. Even though his father had no formal education, he spoke many languages.
Arthur went to Abraham Lincoln High School. Then he studied at the City College of New York. He earned his first degree in 1937. After that, he went to the University of Rochester and became a doctor in 1941.
While in medical school, Kornberg discovered he had a mild health condition. It was a genetic condition called Gilbert's syndrome. He even wrote his first research paper about how common this condition was among his fellow students.
After medical school, Arthur worked as a ship's doctor for the United States Coast Guard. This was during World War II, from 1942 to 1945. A director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) noticed his research paper. He invited Kornberg to join a research team at the NIH. There, Kornberg studied how different diets affected rats.
Discovering DNA's Secrets
Working with rats was not very exciting for Kornberg. He became very interested in enzymes instead. In 1946, he moved to New York University. He joined the lab of Dr. Severo Ochoa. He also took classes to learn more about chemistry. This helped him understand how to clean and study enzymes.
From 1947 to 1953, Kornberg led the Enzyme and Metabolism Section at the NIH. He worked on understanding how cells make energy using molecules like ATP. This research helped him understand how DNA is put together from smaller parts.
During his time at the NIH, he also did research at other universities. These included Washington University in St. Louis and the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1953, he became a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He continued his experiments there, focusing on the enzymes that build DNA. In 1956, he found the first enzyme that could make DNA. This enzyme is now known as DNA polymerase I. This important discovery led to his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1957. It also helped him win the Nobel Prize in 1959.
In 1959, Kornberg moved to Stanford University. He became a professor and head of the Biochemistry Department. He helped create a new genetics department at Stanford.
For a while, Kornberg also studied spores. His mother had died from a serious infection after surgery. This made him curious about how spores work. He spent years trying to understand how DNA is stored in spores and how they create new cells. Even though it was a difficult area of science, he eventually stopped this research to focus on other things.
The Arthur Kornberg Medical Research Building at the University of Rochester Medical Center was named after him in 1999.
Arthur Kornberg continued to work in his lab at Stanford until he died. He kept publishing new scientific papers. His later research focused on a molecule called polyphosphate.
Many of Arthur Kornberg's students and trainees became important scientists themselves. This group is sometimes called the "Kornberg school" of biochemistry. Some of his famous students include Randy Schekman and James Rothman, who also won Nobel Prizes.
Books by Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg wrote several books, including:
- Germ Stories (2007)
- For the Love of Enzymes: The Odyssey of a Biochemist (1989)
- The Golden Helix: Inside Biotech Ventures (2002)
- Enzymatic Synthesis of DNA (1961)
- DNA Synthesis (1974)
- DNA Replication (1980, and a second edition in 1992 with Tania A. Baker)
Arthur Kornberg's Family Life
On November 21, 1943, Arthur Kornberg married Sylvy Ruth Levy. She was also a biochemist and worked closely with him. She helped a lot with the discovery of DNA polymerase. Their son, Thomas, joked that when Arthur won the Nobel Prize, Sylvy said, "I was robbed!"
Arthur and Sylvy had three sons:
- Roger David Kornberg (born 1947)
- Thomas B. Kornberg (born 1948)
- Kenneth Andrew Kornberg (born 1950)
Roger Kornberg is a professor at Stanford University. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006, following in his father's footsteps. Thomas Kornberg discovered other important DNA enzymes and is also a professor. Kenneth Kornberg is an architect who designs science laboratories.
Arthur Kornberg was married three times. His first two wives passed away before him. Sylvy Kornberg died in 1986. He remarried in 1988 to Charlene Walsh Levering, who died in 1995. In 1998, he married Carolyn Frey Dixon.
Even in his eighties, Arthur Kornberg continued to do research full-time at Stanford. He passed away on October 26, 2007, at Stanford Hospital.
See also
In Spanish: Arthur Kornberg para niños
