Richard Adolf Zsigmondy was born in Vienna on April 1, 1865. His father, doctor Adolf Zsigmondy, had done a great deal to promote dentistry in Austria, had invented several surgical instruments and devices, and had published several scientific and medical works. He encouraged his four children’s interest in the natural sciences. He died when Zsigmondy…

Good Schools, Books, a Love of Mechanics, and You Must Earn a LivingAbout 1900 my parents came to the United States as children from what was then the Polish area of Russia. As Jews, their families left Russia to escape the poverty and the antisemitism. My parents grew up in poor areas of New York…

Nicholas Murray Butler (April 2, 1862-December 7, 1947) was an educator and university president; an adviser to seven presidents and friend of statesmen in foreign nations; recipient of decorations from fifteen foreign governments and of honorary degrees from thirty-seven colleges and universities; a member of more than fifty learned societies and twenty clubs; the author…

I was born in Lahore (then a part of British India) on the 19th of October 1910, as the first son and the third child of a family of four sons and six daughters. My father, Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya Ayyar, an officer in Government Service in the Indian Audits and Accounts Department, was then in Lahore…

Born in Springs, South Africa, 20/11/1923. Daughter of Isidore and Nan Gordimer. Has lived all her life, and continues to live, in South Africa. Principal works: 10 novels, including A Guest of Honour, The Conservationist, Burger’s Daughter, July’s People, A Sport of Nature, My Son’s Story and her most recent, None to Accompany Me. 10…

Ralph M. Steinman was born in Montreal, Canada, on 14 January 1943, the second of four children. His father Irving, a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe, and his mother Nettie owned a department store in Sherbrooke near Montreal. His father wanted him to continue in the family business, but in high school Ralph became interested…

Dr. Gerald M. Edelman was born on July 1, 1929 in New York City to Edward Edelman and Anna Freedman Edelman. His father is a practicing physician in New York. After his education in New York public schools, Edelman attended Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and received the B.S. degree, magna cum laude, in 1950. He…

Donald Arthur Glaser was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 21, 1926, the son of William J. Glaser, a businessman, and his wife Lena. He received his early education in the public schools of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and took his B.Sc. degree in physics and mathematics at the Case Institute of Technology in 1946. His…

Winning a Nobel Prize is a life-changing event. It is a turning point. In addition to many people asking about how you arrived at this point, the winner is asked to produce his biography. All this and the events related to the Nobel Prize have resulted in each one of us going back and reviewing…

I was born in Belgium, in 1899. Longlier, my birthplace, is located in a high point of the Belgian Ardennes, atop the rising spur of an eroded remnant of the foot of the Alps, next to a deep valley. In the Middle Ages, it had been a fortified place, of the Francs and Carolegian dynasties.…