Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg (1918-), American biochemist and physician, claims he has never met "a dull enzyme." He has devoted his life to pursuing and purifying these critical protein molecules. His love of science did not spring from a family history rooted in science. He was born on March 3rd, 1918, the son of a sewing machine operator in the sweatshops of the Lower East Side of New York City. His parents, Joseph Aaron Kornberg and Lena Rachel Katz, were immigrant Jews who made great sacrifices to ensure the safety of their family. They had fled Poland, for if they had stayed, they would have been murdered in a German concentration camp. His grandfather had abandoned the paternal family name Queller, of Spanish origin. This was done to escape the fate of the army draft; he had taken the name of Kornberg, a man who had already done his service. His father used their meager earnings to bring and settle his family in New York City and was thrust into the sweatshops as a sewing machine operator. He, along with his brother Martin, 13 years older and sister Ella, nine years older, was encouraged by loving parents to obtain a good education. The public school reinforced this ideal. Education was the road of opportunity for social and economic mo
Professor Kornberg finds time to travel and lecture at many universities and research centers. He calls for a return of simple curiosity. He lectures that " scientists need to be able to study science for curiosity's sake and not be driven by the possible dollar benefits-and governments should encourage them." He is adamant that research into science should proceed, despite public concerns that new discoveries, especially in genetic engineering, could be abused. "There is often a focus on the alarmist possibilities of any new technology; however it is foolish to try and predict where science will take us." He states " there hasn't been a single instance of biotechnology being misapplied. It's safer than driving." Initial experiments with extracts from animal cells were unsuccessful, and Kornberg turned to extracts from the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli). This was the first major discovery his team had made, and was the chemical catalyst responsible for the synthesis of DNA. They discovered the enzyme in the common intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli, and Kornberg called it DNA polymerase. This was an important discovery because DNA is the construction manual, and RNA transcribes it into reading form, but the proteins, particularly the enzymes, carry out all the cellular functions and give the organism its shape. In 1957, Kornberg's group used this enzyme to synthesize DNA molecules, but they were not biologically active. This proved that this enzyme does catalyze the production of new strands of DNA, and it explained how a single strand of DNA acts as a pattern for the formation of a new strand of nucleotides-the building blocks of DNA. In 1959, Kornberg along with Ochoa shared the Nobel Prize for their "discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid." His work established the basic mechanism of all DNA polymerases in nature and the capacity of these polymerases to make genetically active DNA in the test tube. The same year Kornberg accepted an appointment as professor of biochemistry and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University. He continued his research on DNA biosynthesis along with Mehran Goulian. The two researchers were determined to synthesize an artificial DNA that was biologically active. By 1967 the two researchers announced their success. His early education in grade school and Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn was distinguished only by his "skipping " several grades. There was nothing inspirational about his courses except the teachers' encouragement to get good grades. When he received a grade of 100 in the New York State Regents Examination, his chemistry teacher glowed with pride. It was the first time in over twenty years of teaching that a student of his had gotten a perfect grade. Arthur was a brilliant student who graduated from high school at the age of fifteen. He enrolled in City College in uptown Manhattan. Competition among a large body of bright and highly motivated students was fierce in all subjects. His high school interest in chemistry carried over into college. After receiving his B.S. degree in biology and chemistry in 1937, and since City College offered no graduate studies or research laboratories at that time, he became one of two hundred pre-med students at the University of Rochester. All through college he worked as a salesman in his parents' furnishing store, and earned about $14 a week. This along with a New York State Regents Scholarship of $100 a year and with no college tuition to pay he was able to save enough money to pay for the first half of medical school. While a student, he became aware of a mild jaundice (yellowing) in his eyes. He observed a similar condition among ot
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Approximate Word count = 2524
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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