Arthur Kornberg

“Half of what we know is wrong, the purpose of science is to determine which half.” - Arthur Kornberg

Arthur Kornberg was an American biochemist who made immense contributions to the field of molecular biology. He received the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1959 along with Severo Ochoa for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of RNA and DNA.

Kornberg was born on March 13, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, Kornberg was an eager and able student. After high school, he did his graduate studies in chemistry and biology and wished to have an academic career in this field. But due to the hardships he met during the Great Depression, he thought medical school would provide a more promising future. Kornberg thus joined to study medicine at the University of Rochester. Kornberg suffered from a genetic disorder, now known as Gilbert’s syndrome, characterized by mildly elevated bilirubin levels in the blood. While at medical school, he took a survey of fellow students to discover how common the condition was. The results were published in Kornberg’s first research paper in 1942, and this was a significant breakthrough in his career. Impressed with Kornberg’s works, Robert Dyer, Director of National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, called Kornberg to NIH.

His first project involved tracking down a vitamin deficiency in rats induced by sulpha drugs. Bored by the feeding of rats, Kornberg soon developed an interest in enzymes and moved to Severo Ochoa’s laboratory at New York University of the medical school from where he learned techniques for enzyme purification. Later he headed a research group for identifying and delineating the workings of various enzymes involved in DNA replication. All this led to the discovery of DNA polymerase in December 1955. DNA polymerase was later isolated from E. coli by Kornberg on April 16, 1956. In 1957, Kornberg synthesized DNA in a test tube. He received the Nobel Prize in 1959. Kornberg was also rewarded with many other awards and citations.

Kornberg enjoyed teaching and writing also. He wrote a book on DNA replication as well as an autobiography on his own experience as a scientist- “For the love of enzymes.” He passed away on October 26, 2007.