May 3, 2006
Former Purdue professor awarded top prize in medicine
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Seymour Benzer, a Purdue alumnus and former associate and professor of physics, recently was awarded the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, one of the most prestigious prizes in medicine in the United States.
Albany Medical, an academic health sciences center, awarded Benzer $500,000 for his contributions to science and medicine. The award is considered to be similar to the Nobel Prize in medicine.
He earned his master's degree and his doctoral degree in physics from Purdue University in 1943 and 1947, respectively. While on the faculty at Purdue from 1947 to 1965, he focused on molecular biology and the study of the gene. He also was a member of a group at Purdue during World War II whose work on a military radar project aided in the development of the transistor.
Benzer is physicist, microbiologist and a neuroscientist. His work is considered revolutionary in the field of biology and led to major advancements in the field of neurobiology. His research also has aided in the exploration of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
During his career, he has received more than 40 awards, including the National Medal of Science. Benzer has published papers in physics, molecular biology and behavioral biology. He has been referred to as a "renaissance man of modern science" and the "father of neurogenetics." Benzer received an honorary doctorate in science from Purdue in 1968.
Benzer is currently an emeritus professor at the California Institute of Technology. His wife, Carol Miller, is a professor of neuropathology at the University of Southern California.
Writer: Kiersti Kjonaas, (765) 494-2081, kkjonaas@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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