Jerome Vinograd (February 9, 1913 – July 7, 1976) was an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

who developed density gradient ultracentrifugation and contributed to the understanding of

DNA supercoil DNA supercoiling refers to the amount of twist in a particular DNA strand, which determines the amount of strain on it. A given strand may be "positively supercoiled" or "negatively supercoiled" (more or less tightly wound). The amount of a st ...

ing.

Education

Vinograd obtained his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. From 1931 to 1933 he studied colloid chemistry with Professor

Herbert Freundlich Herbert Max Finlay Freundlich (28 January 1880 in Charlottenburg – 30 March 1941 in Minneapolis) was a German chemist. His father was of German Jewish descent, and his mother ( Finlay) was from Scotland. His younger brother was Erwin Fi ...

at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, and from 1933 to 1935 continued his studies with Freundlich at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. In 1936 he went to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and obtained a Master of Arts degree in organic chemistry with Professor William G. Young. In 1937 he married Sherna Shalett. He obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1940 with Professor James W. McBain at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

with research on physical and colloid chemistry.

Career

From 1941 to 1951, Vinograd worked for the Shell Development Company in

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 as o ...

. During this period, his wife Sherna gave birth to their two daughters,

Julia Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...

and

Deborah According to the Book of Judges, Deborah ( he, דְּבוֹרָה, ''Dəḇōrā'', " bee") was a prophetess of the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel and the only female judge mentioned in the Bible. Many scholars ...

. In 1951 he became a senior research fellow at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, in Pasadena, California, where he remained for the rest of his career. In 1956 he became a research associate, and in 1965 he was promoted to professor of chemistry and biology. He pioneered the use of ultracentrifugation for the analysis of complex molecules, in particular DNA.

Awards and honors

In 1968, Vinograd was elected to 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 ...

. In 1970 he received the Kendall Award from the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

. In 1972, the

Helen Hay Whitney Foundation The Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, established in New York in 1943 by Joan Whitney Payson in cooperation with the estate planning of her mother, Helen Hay Whitney (1875–1944), awards the "Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship" for support p ...

gave him the T. Duckett Jones Award. He was invited to give a number of honorary lectures, including the Burroughs Wellcome Lecture at Harvard in 1970, the Jesse W. Beams Lecture at the University of Virginia in 1972, and the Falk-Plaut Lecture at Columbia University in 1972.

References

1913 births 1976 deaths Scientists from Milwaukee Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American biochemists Colloid chemists {{US-biochemist-stub