Jack Gorski (1931-2006) was an American reproductive biologist who was a pioneer in

estrogen Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal acti ...

endocrinology Endocrinology (from '' endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental event ...

. Jack Gorski was born in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

, earned a B.S. degree from the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

and a Ph.D. degree from the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

. In 1958, he started postdoctoral research on the action of estrogens at

Mcardle Laboratory for Cancer Research The McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research is a basic cancer research facility located on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus in Madison, Wisconsin. It houses the university's Department of Oncology . The staff of the McArdle Laboratory ...

, University of Wisconsin. Hence, he continued to expand his interest in

steroid A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

biochemistry. He found

estrogen receptor Estrogen receptors (ERs) are a group of proteins found inside cells. They are receptors that are activated by the hormone estrogen ( 17β-estradiol). Two classes of ER exist: nuclear estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ), which are members of the ...

s almost at the same time as

Elwood V. Jensen Elwood Vernon Jensen (January 13, 1920 – December 16, 2012) was the Distinguished University Professor, George and Elizabeth Wile Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine's Vontz Center for Molecular Studies. I ...

and laid the foundation for the study of steroid nuclear receptors. In 1986 he was elected a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

and in 1993 a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

References

External links

R. Michael Roberts, "Jack Gorski", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2010)
1931 births 2006 deaths People from Green Bay, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Washington State University alumni 20th-century American biologists {{US-biologist-stub