| Authorised form of name | Benzer; Seymour (1921 - 2007) |
| Dates | 1921 - 2007 |
| Nationality | American |
| Place of birth | New York, New York, USA |
| Date of birth | 15/10/1921 |
| Place of death | Pasadena USA |
| Date of death | 30/11/2007 |
| Occupation | Geneticist and neuroscientist |
| Activity | Education:
Brooklyn College (1938);Ph.D at Purdue University USA
Career:
Assistant Professor of Physics in Purdue; attended summer course on Bacteriophages at Cold Spring Harbour (1948) organized by Max Delbruck, then went to work in his lab at Caltech for two yers as a ost doc. Pasteur Institute in Paris for 1 yer; returned to Purdue, where began his work on the structure of the gene. Boswell Professor at Caltech (1975); officially retired in 1992 though remained an active researcher. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience Emeritus.
Awards;
National Medal of Science; Wolf Prize in Medicine from Israel; Crafoord Prize fromthe Royal Swedish academy of Sciences; International Proze for Biology from Japan; Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research; Albany Medical Center Prize. |
| Membership category | Foreign Member |
| Date of election | 08/04/1976 |
| Age at election | 54 |
| RSActivity | Lectures:
Croonian 1982 |
| Relationships | Married (1) Dorothy Vlosky, died 1978, (2) Carol Miller; 2 daughters Barbara Freidin and Martha Goldberg; one son Alexander Benzer; two stepsons, Renhy and Douglas Feldman; four grandchildren |
| Source | References:
R Holliday, 'The early years of molecular biology: personal recollections' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 195-208
L Woloert 'Seymour Benzer 15 October 1921 - 30 November 2007' in Proceedings fo the American Philosophical Society, Vol 155, No 3, September 2011, pp298-300 |
| Code | NA4770 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1976/41 | Benzer, Seymour: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1976 |