Arthur Kornberg Biography

Biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1959 for discovering how DNA is assembled. He was one of three members from the City College of New York class of 1937, who won Nobel-prizes. Kornberg’s discovery of DNA polymerase, an enzyme needed in heredity synthesis, became one of the essential steps leading to advancements in genetic engineering. His discovery and research also led to the design of drugs now used to treat cancers, auto-immune diseases, and other viral infections. He was a passionate scientist and worked in his Stanford University lab until a few days before his death caused by respiratory failure.