Alfred D. Hershey (1908-1997)

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

American biologist. Hershey was born on December 4, 1908 at Owosso, Michigan. He studied at the Michigan State College, where he obtained his B.S. in 1930, his Ph.D. in 1934. In 1950 he became a Staff Member at the Department of Genetics, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Cold Spring Harbor, New York; in 1962 he was appointed Director of the Genetics Research Unit of the same institution. He was a Member of the American Society for Microbiology, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts Sciences. Hershey died on May 22, 1997 at Syosset, New York.