For the American jazz pianist and arranger, see Norman Simmons (musician).

Norman Simmons (May 28, 1915 – January 27, 2004)[1] was a DNA research pioneer.[1][2]

Life

Norman Simmons was born in New York City in 1915. He obtained a B.S. at the City College of New York, a D.M.D.at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in 1950 at University of Rochester, with a dissertation titled “Investigation of Submaxillary Mucoid and the Defense Mechanisms of the Mouth:" this was regarded as truly innovative.[1]

He was also a sculptor, painter, actor and musician, throughout his life. He died in Los Angeles in 2004, survived by his wife and two sons.

Career

He was appointed as a professor of biophysics and nuclear medicine in the UCLA Medical School, and of oral medicine in the UCLA Dental School, and he participated in the development of the latter.[1] He remained at UCLA for the whole of his career.

Research

Simmons worked with Elkan Blout[3] on proteins and polypeptides and was also recognized for isolating a structurally pure form of DNA.[4] This was the DNA which Rosalind Franklin used in her X-ray diffraction studies[5] that rewarded Maurice Wilkins, James Watson and Francis Crick with the Nobel Prize for the double helix model of DNA.[6] In his Nobel Prize lecture of 1962, Wilkins thanked Simmons "for having refined techniques of isolating DNA, and thereby helping a great many workers including ourselves."[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d In Memoriam: Norman Simmons on University of California website
  2. ^ "Obituaries". Harvard Dental Bulletin 10(4): 28. Fall 2004-Winter 2005.
  3. ^ Simmons, Norman S.; Blout, Elkan R. (1960). "Structure of tobacco mosaic virus and its components: ultraviolet optical rotatory dispersion". Biophys. J. 1 (1): 55–62. Bibcode:1960BpJ.....1...55S. doi:10.1016/s0006-3495(60)86875-0. PMC 1366312. PMID 19431302.
  4. ^ Kay, Ernest R. M.; Simmons, Norman S.; Dounce, Alexander L. (1952). "An Improved Preparation of Sodium Desoxyribonucleate". J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 74 (7): 1724–1726. Bibcode:1952JAChS..74.1724K. doi:10.1021/ja01127a034.
  5. ^ Franklin, R.E.; Gosling, R.G. (1953). "Molecular configuration in sodium thymonucleate". Nature. 171 (4356): 740–741. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..740F. doi:10.1038/171740a0. PMID 13054694.
  6. ^ Watson, J.D.; Crick, F.H.C. (1953). "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: a Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid". Nature. 171 (4356): 737–738. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..737W. doi:10.1038/171737a0. PMID 13054692.
  7. ^ Wilkins, Maurice H. “The Molecular Configuration of Nucleic Acids.” Nobel Lectures, 1942-1962, 1962, p. 781.


Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Simmons
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