Weller, Thomas Huckle, 1915–2008, American microbiologist and physician, b. Ann Arbor, Mich., B.A. Univ. of Michigan, 1936, M.D. Harvard, 1940. In 1936 he began teaching at Harvard, and as a specialist in tropical medicine he became professor in the school of public health in 1954. Together with J. F. Enders and F. C. Robbins he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work in growing polio viruses in cultures of different tissues. He also isolated the chickenpox and shingles viruses and collaborated in the isolation of the rubella (German measles) virus. This work led to the development of vaccines for these diseases. From 1966 to 1981, he was director of Harvard's Center for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases.
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