Salvador E. Luria (1912-1991)

Awarded the Prize “for the discoveries concerning the replication mechanism the genetic structure of viruses.”

American biochemist. Luria was born on August 12, 1912 in Turin, Italy. He obtained his M.D. summa cum laude at the University of Torino in 1935. In 1950 he was appointed Professor of Microbiology at the University of Illinois; from 1959-1964 he was Professor of Microbiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; in 1964 he became Sedgwick Professor of Biology at the M.I.T. in 1965, non-resident Fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. In 1970 Luria was appointed Institute Professor at the Department of Biology of the M.I.T. Luria died on February 6, 1991 at Lexington, Massachusetts.