Élie Léo Wollman (July 4, 1917 – June 1, 2008) was a French microbial geneticist who first described plasmids (what he termed "episomes"), and served as vice director of research for the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines ...

for twenty years. He was awarded the 1976

Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer The Grand Prix Charles-Léopold Mayer (Charles-Léopold Mayer Prize) is awarded annually by the Académie des Sciences (French Academy of Sciences) de l'Institut de France (the French Institute) to researchers who have performed outstanding work in ...

by the French Academy of Sciences and

Chevalier Chevalier may refer to: Honours Belgium * a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II * a title in the Belgian nobility France * a rank in the French Legion d'h ...

of the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

Research

* In his lab at the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Wollman played a key role in the elucidation of the organization of genetic material. * Developed the experimental method of interrupted mating, which underpinned the gene mapping of bacterial chromosomes. This work laid the foundation for Francois Jacob's

Nobel prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

-winning work. * With Francois Jacob, he published a monograph, ''Sexuality and the genetics of bacteria'' (French title: ''La sexualité des bactéries''), in 1959.

Selected publications

* *

References

External Links

Robert Dantzer and Keith W. Kelley, "Elie Wollman", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2009)
1917 births 2008 deaths Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences French geneticists Members of the Académie Française French molecular biologists Phage workers Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Members of the French Academy of Sciences {{geneticist-stub