John Derek Smith FRS (1924–2003) was a British molecular biologist who participated in many of the major discoveries at the

Laboratory of Molecular Biology The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical r ...

(LMB) in Cambridge. * Born

Southampton, England Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Por ...

8 December 1924 * Scientific staff,

Agricultural Research Council The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture. History The AFRC was formed in 1983 from its predecessor, ...

Virus Research Unit, Cambridge 1945-59; * Research Fellow,

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

1949-52; * Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, University of California, Berkeley 1955-57; * Senior Research Fellow,

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 ...

1959-62, * Member of Scientific Staff, LMB, Cambridge 1962-88 :* Sherman Fairchild Scholar 1974-75; :* Head, Subdivision of Biochemistry, Cell Biology Division 1976-88 :* FRS 1976; In 1955 he married Ruth Aney (marriage dissolved 1968); died Cambridge 22 November 2003. He had a long term relationship with Rosemary Myers, an artist, which continued until his death. He was one of the very few scientists who understood the importance of nucleic acids before 1953. According to Nobel Laureate

Sidney Altman Sidney Altman (May 7, 1939 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian-American molecular biologist, who was the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989, he shared the Nobel Prize in ...

"John Smith was a venerable nucleic acids biochemist. He had worked on the nucleic acids of viruses long before coming to the MRC-LMB and was an expert on identification and characterization of nucleotides, much of it done on unlabeled material, detected by observing chromatographs under UV light. He was a quiet person but very lively in conversations about science."RNA Processing: A Postdoc in a Great Laboratory
Genetics, Vol. 165, 1633-1639, December 2003 by
Sidney Altman Sidney Altman (May 7, 1939 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian-American molecular biologist, who was the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989, he shared the Nobel Prize in ...

His doctoral students include

Gerard R. Wyatt Gerard Robert Wyatt (3 September 1925, in Palo Alto, California – 28 March 2019, in Kingston, Ontario) was an American-Canadian biochemist and entomologist, specializing in insect physiology. He is known for important research on DNA. Biography ...

References

1924 births 2003 deaths British molecular biologists Fellows of the Royal Society Scientists from Southampton 20th-century British biologists {{UK-biologist-stub