Nobel Prize Award for Physiology and Medicine 1972 to 1975

About the Nobel Prize Award for Physiology and Medicine from 1972 to 1975 including the scientists Edelman and Porter, their works, and history.

PHYSIOLOGY AND MEDICINE

1972 Gerald M. Edelman (1929- ), American

Rodney R. Porter (1917- ), British

Work: Determined the exact chemical structure of an antibody

Nobel Laureates: Born in New York City, Dr. Edelman joined the staff of the Rockefeller Institute in New York in 1960. By that time he had become an expert on immunology. He learned the chemical structure of antibodies and turned out so many learned papers that he has come to be regarded by many as the foremost authority on molecular biology. A gifted violinist, Edelman abandoned a promising music career to study science.

A biochemist educated in Liverpool and Cambridge, Porter spent 11 years on the staff of London's National Institute for Medical Research, resigning in 1960 to teach immunology at London University. Since 1967 he has been a professor of biochemistry at Oxford. He spends off-hours fishing or tending his bees.

Nobel Lore: Each received $49,050 in prize money. When reporters phoned porter to tell him that he had won, he was skeptical, because the previous year a reporter had mistakenly informed him that he had been chosen for the 1971 award. Edelman's wife first heard the good word on the radio at 8:00 A.M. She rushed to waken her sleeping husband, who sat up silent for several seconds. "At that time of the morning I'm in a metaphysical state," the laureate explained.

1973 Karl Ritter von Frisch (1886- ), Austrian

Konrad Lorenz (1904- ), Austrian

Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907- ), Dutch

Work: Research on behavior patterns (ethology)

1974 Albert Claude (1899- ), American (b. Luxembourg)

Christian Rene de Duve (1917- ), Belgian (b. England)

George Emil Palade (1912- ), American (b. Romania)

Work: Foundations of modern cell biology

1975 David Baltimore (1938- ), American

Renato Dulbecco (1914- ), American (b. Italy)

Howard M. Temin (1934- ), American

Work: Discoveries concerning the interaction between tumor viruses and the genetic material of the cell