Karl Maramorosch facts for kids
Karl Maramorosch (born January 16, 1915 – died May 9, 2016) was an American scientist. He was born in Austria. He studied viruses, insects, and plant diseases. He lived to be over 100 years old and spoke many languages.
Karl Maramorosch researched tiny living things like viruses and bacteria. He also studied how insects spread these germs to plants around the world. He wrote many scientific papers and co-authored a textbook on how to study viruses. In 1980, he won the Wolf Prize in Agriculture, which is a very important award for work in farming.
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Early Life and Education
Karl Maramorosch was born in Vienna, Austria, on January 16, 1915. His family had moved there from Moldova during World War I. His father was Polish and studied agriculture. His mother was from Croatia and was a talented piano player who spoke many languages. Karl spoke Polish with his father and German with his mother.
He grew up in Kołomyja, Poland (now Ukraine). He went to primary and secondary schools there. He also took piano lessons for twelve years, starting at age seven. He graduated from a music school in 1934.
When he was thirteen, Karl was inspired to become a scientist who studies viruses. He heard about Professor Rudolf Weigl's work. Weigl studied how a disease called typhus spread through lice. He even developed a vaccine for it.
In 1938, Karl Maramorosch earned his Agricultural Engineer degree from the Warsaw Agricultural University. In 1939, after the Nazi invasion of Poland, he and his wife fled to Romania. They stayed in Polish refugee camps for four years. After the Soviet army freed Romania, Karl continued his studies, focusing on plant diseases.
Career
In 1947, when he was 32, Karl and his wife moved to the United States. Karl studied at Columbia University while working at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He earned his Ph.D. (doctoral degree) in 1949.
How Diseases Spread Through Insects
Karl Maramorosch started his science career at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. From 1949 to 1960, he worked at the Rockefeller University in New York. He changed a method used by Professor Weigl. He used tiny needles to inject plant viruses and other germs into leafhopper insects.
This allowed him to discover something important. He found that some plant diseases could multiply not only in plants but also inside the insects that carried them. This was a big step in understanding how plant diseases spread.
Growing Insect Cells for Research
Since 1956, Karl Maramorosch was a leader in growing insect cells in labs. He used these cells to study viruses and other tiny germs that affect plants and animals. His work helped create ways to use insect cells for many things.
These methods are now used in farming, medicine, and for finding new medicines. They help scientists understand how diseases work and how to fight them. A special mix for growing insect cells, called Mitsuhashi-Maramorosch medium, is still widely used today.
Research, Teaching, and Awards
In 1960, Karl Maramorosch worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the Philippines. He studied a serious disease affecting coconut palm trees. From 1961 to 1973, he led the Virology Program at the Boyce Thompson Institute in New York. There, he and his team used powerful microscopes to find and study viruses and other germs in sick plants and insects.
In 1974, Karl Maramorosch became a professor at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. In 1983, he was named the Robert L. Starkey Professor of Microbiology.
In 1980, he received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture. This award is often called the "Agriculture Nobel Prize." He won it for his important work on how insects and plant diseases interact. He also received many other awards, including the Jurzykowski Foundation Award and two Fulbright awards.
Karl Maramorosch traveled a lot to give lectures and teach as a visiting professor. He visited countries like Argentina, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Japan, and Poland. His main research interests included comparing different viruses, growing insect cells, studying parasites, and understanding new diseases. He also worked on biotechnology and helped scientists from different countries work together.
Personal Life and Death
Karl Maramorosch was married to Irene Ludwinowska, who was born in Warsaw. Irene worked as a librarian at the New York Public Library for 30 years. They had one daughter, Lydia Ann Trammell Maramorosch, who was born in 1949.
Karl Maramorosch died peacefully at the age of 101 while visiting family in Poland.
Editorial Work
Karl Maramorosch continued to be active in science until 2015. He kept doing research, publishing his findings, and organizing international science meetings. Over his 60-year career, he wrote or co-wrote more than 800 scientific papers and 100 books. Some of his books include:
- Biological Transmission of Disease Agents (1962)
- Insect Viruses (1968)
- Comparative Virology (1971)
- Mycoplasma Diseases (1973)
- Invertebrate Immunity (1975)
- Insect and Plant Viruses-An Atlas (1977)
- Leafhopper Vectors of Plant Disease Agents (1979)
- Vectors of Plant Pathogens (1980)
- Subviral Pathogens of Plants and Animals (1985)
- Biotechnology for Biological Control of Pests and Vectors (1991)
- Forest Trees and Palms- Diseases and Control (1996)
He also edited many series of books, including Methods in Virology (8 volumes), Advances in Cell Culture (8 volumes), and Advances in Virus Research (56 volumes).
Awards and Honors
- 1959: AAAS Award
- 1962: Helped organize the first international meeting on growing insect cells in France.
- 1970: Elected Member, Leopoldina Academy, Germany (a famous science academy).
- 1972: Fulbright Distinguished Professor in Yugoslavia.
- 1974: Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University.
- 1976: Ciba-Geigy Award in Agriculture.
- 1980: Wolf Prize in Agriculture for his work on insects and plant diseases.
- 1981: Jurzykowski Foundation Award in Biology for his pioneering work in growing insect cells.
- 1987: Honorary Fellow, Indian Virological Society.
- 1998: Honorary Member, Entomological Society of America.
- 2001: Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, Society for In Vitro Biology.
- 2010: M.V. Nayudu's Life Time Achievement Award in India.
See also
In Spanish: Karl Maramorosch para niños
