Werner Arber
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Werner Arber
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1978
Born: 3 June 1929, Gränichen, Switzerland
Affiliation at the time of the award: Biozentrum der Universität, Basel, Switzerland
Prize motivation: “for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics”
Prize share: 1/3
Work
An organism's genome is stored in the form of long rows of building blocks, known as nucleotides, which form DNA molecules. In the late 1960s, Werner Arber discovered substances known as restriction enzymes, which cut DNA molecules at sites where a certain sequence of nucleotides occurs. The discovery of restriction enzymes opened the way to explaining in which order genes exist on the chromosome, to investigating genes' chemical composition, and to putting DNA together in new combinations.
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.
