Daniel Nathans Oral History

Interviewee

Daniel Nathans

Interviewer

Sondra Schlesinger, PhD, Dorothy Brockoff and Darryl Podoll

Files

Summary

Daniel Nathans was interviewed by Dr. Sondra Schlesinger, Dorothy A. Brockhoff, and Darryl Podoll on May 4, 1979 for approximately 104 minutes.

Scope and Content

Nathans participated in two oral histories. In the first interview with Dr. Sondra Schlesinger, Nathans discusses his childhood in Wilmington, Delaware, his undergraduate education at the University of Delaware, and his experiences in medical school at the Washington University School of Medicine. Nathans recalls some of men who influenced his career, including Barry Wood, Carl Cori, Oliver Lowry, Robert Loeb, Fritz Lipmann, and colleagues such as Hamilton O. Smith and Norton Zinder. He recalls his internship and residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, and his experiences as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, Rockefeller University and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Nathans describes some of his research in microbiology, the biosynthesis of proteins, restriction enzymes, RNA phages, and molecular genetics. In the second interview with Dorothy A. Brockoff, Nathans discusses the potential significance of his research on recombinant DNA and the effect of winning the Nobel Prize on his personal life and career.

Biographical Information: Interviewee

Daniel Nathans (1928-1999) was a microbiologist. Nathans received a BS in Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1950 and an MD from the Washington University School of Medicine in 1954. He served as an intern (1954-1955) and resident (1957-1959) at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, and as a clinical associate (1955-1957) at the National Institutes of Health. Nathans served as a guest investigator (1959-1962) at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, after which he joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as professor and director of the Department of Microbiology. Nathans, Werner Arber and Hamilton O. Smith shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for their work on the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to the problems of molecular genetics.

Biographical Information: Interviewer

Sondra Schlesinger, PhD graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1956 and a doctorate in biochemistry in 1960. After postdoctoral training in Italy and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1964 she became an assistant professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine. She became professor of molecular microbiology in 1977 and professor emeritus in 2001. Her research interests first focused on microbial genetics. Later, she redirected her research towards understanding the structure and replication of RNA enveloped viruses. She received a NIH Merit Award, and, in 1997, she was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dorothy A. Brockoff (1924-2016) was a St. Louis journalist who contributed to a variety of publications including the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, the Washington University Magazine, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Interview Date

1979-05-04

Collection Identifier

OH038

Length

Approximately 1 hour and 44 minutes.

Restrictions

Users wishing to publish (in whole, or in part) content taken from the audio or transcript of this oral history interview must request, sign, and return a Statement of Use form to the Becker Archives. For detailed information regarding publication and use of this oral history, contact the Becker Archives (arb@wusm.wustl.edu).

Recommended Citation

Daniel Nathans Oral History, OH038, Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives, Washington University in St. Louis.

Notes

The audio quality of the interviews is inconsistent, and some portions are inaudible. The first interview lasts approximately 56 minutes and the second interview follows immediately and lasts approximately 48 minutes. There is background noise during the second interview.

Disclaimer

The Becker Archives provides access to this oral history interview as a record of the past. This interview reflects the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of the interview participants, which may reflect outdated, biased, and offensive views and opinions. The Becker Archives does not endorse the views expressed in this interview, which may contain materials offensive to some users.