Norman Simmons

For the American jazz pianist and arranger, see Norman Simmons (musician).
Norman S. Simmons
Born(1915-05-28)28 May 1915
New York City
Died7 January 2004(2004-01-07) (aged 88)
Los Angeles
EducationCity College of New York, Harvard University
University of Rochester (Ph.D. 1950)
Known forIsolating structurally pure DNA
Scientific career
FieldsDentistry, molecular biology
InstitutionsUCLA Medical School, UCLA Dental School
Thesis Investigation of Submaxillary Mucoid and the Defense Mechanisms of the Mouth

Norman Simmons (May 28, 1915 – January 27, 2004)[1] was a DNA research pioneer.[1][2]

Life

Norman Simmons was born in New York City in 1915. He obtained a B.S. at the City College of New York, a D.M.D.at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in 1950 at University of Rochester, with a dissertation titled “Investigation of Submaxillary Mucoid and the Defense Mechanisms of the Mouth:" this was regarded as truly innovative.[1]

He was also a sculptor, painter, actor and musician, throughout his life. He died in Los Angeles in 2004, survived by his wife and two sons.

Career

He was appointed as a professor of biophysics and nuclear medicine in the UCLA Medical School, and of oral medicine in the UCLA Dental School, and he participated in the development of the latter.[1] He remained at UCLA for the whole of his career.

Research

Simmons worked with Elkan Blout[3] on proteins and polypeptides and was also recognized for isolating a structurally pure form of DNA.[4] This was the DNA which Rosalind Franklin used in her X-ray diffraction studies[5] that rewarded Maurice Wilkins, James Watson and Francis Crick with the Nobel Prize for the double helix model of DNA.[6] In his Nobel Prize lecture of 1962, Wilkins thanked Simmons "for having refined techniques of isolating DNA, and thereby helping a great many workers including ourselves."[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d In Memoriam: Norman Simmons on University of California website
  2. ^ "Obituaries". Harvard Dental Bulletin 10(4): 28. Fall 2004-Winter 2005.
  3. ^ Simmons, Norman S.; Blout, Elkan R. (1960). "Structure of tobacco mosaic virus and its components: ultraviolet optical rotatory dispersion". Biophys. J. 1: 55–62. doi:10.1016/s0006-3495(60)86875-0. PMC 1366312.
  4. ^ Kay, Ernest R. M.; Simmons, Norman S.; Dounce, Alexander L. (1952). "An Improved Preparation of Sodium Desoxyribonucleate". J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 74 (7): 1724–1726. doi:10.1021/ja01127a034.
  5. ^ Franklin, R.E.; Gosling, R.G. (1953). "Molecular configuration in sodium thymonucleate". Nature. 171: 740–741. doi:10.1038/171740a0.
  6. ^ Watson, J.D.; Crick, F.H.C. (1953). "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: a Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid". Nature. 171: 737–738.
  7. ^ Wilkins, Maurice H. “The Molecular Configuration of Nucleic Acids.” Nobel Lectures, 1942-1962, 1962, p. 781.


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