Roger David Kornberg And The Biological Synthesis

Roger David Kornberg was born on September 24, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri as the oldest of Arthur Kornberg and Sylvy Ruth Levy’s three sons. He grew up with very strong science roots as both of his parents were renowned scientists; his mother was a biochemist while his father, also a biochemist, gained notoriety as for his award-winning contribution to the science field. Like how Roger Kornberg would later achieve, Arthur Kornberg co-won the Nobel Prize (1959) in the division of Physiology or Medicine for discovering mechanisms involved in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Roger mentioned the significance that his parents’ careers had on his upbringing in an interview, stating that everything—from leisure activities to dinner conversations—revolved around the world of science. This early influence carried on further in to his life, as Kornberg eventually matriculated to Harvard University to study chemistry. He earned his bachelorâ €™s degree in 1967 and resumed his education as a graduate student at Stanford University. There, in 1972, he obtained his Ph.D. in chemical physics. Kornberg’s affiliation with Stanford brought him back in 1978 as a professor in structural biology; the six years since earning his Ph.D. having been spent on post-grad work in Cambridge University (England) and as an assistant professor in Harvard Medical School, where he conducted research in the field of molecular biology and taught biochemistry, respectively. He won his