Edward Tatum
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Edward Lawrie Tatum
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1958
Born: 14 December 1909, Boulder, CO, USA
Died: 5 November 1975, New York, NY, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York, NY, USA
Prize motivation: “for their discovery that genes act by regulating definite chemical events”
Prize share: 1/4
Work
Organisms' metabolism–the chemical processes within its cells–are regulated by substances called enzymes. Edward Tatum and George Beadle proved in 1941 that our genetic code‚ our genes, govern the formation of enzymes. They exposed a type of mold to x-rays, causing mutations, or changes in its genes. They later succeeded in proving that this led to definite changes in enzyme formation. The conclusion was that each enzyme corresponds to a particular gene.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
