Awards & Winners

Maclyn McCarty

Date of Birth 09-June-1911
Place of Birth South Bend
(St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States of America, Area code 574)
Nationality United States of America
Profession Scientist
Maclyn McCarty was an American geneticist. Maclyn McCarty, who devoted his life as a physician-scientist to studying infectious disease organisms, was best known for his part in the monumental discovery that DNA, rather than protein, constituted the chemical nature of a gene. Uncovering the molecular secret of the gene in question — that for the capsular polysaccharide of pneumococcal bacteria — led the way to studying heredity not only through genetics but also through chemistry, and initiated the dawn of the age of molecular biology. McCarty was the youngest and longest surviving member of the research team responsible for this feat, which also included Oswald T. Avery and Colin MacLeod; he died on January 2, 2005, from congestive heart failure.

Awards by Maclyn McCarty

Check all the awards nominated and won by Maclyn McCarty.

1994


Albert Lasker Special Achievement Award
(For his seminal and historic investigation which revealed that DNA is the chemical substance of heredity and for ushering in a new era of contemporary genetics.)

1990


Wolf Prize in Medicine
(For his part in the demonstration that the transforming factor in bacteria is due to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and the concomitant discovery that the genetic material is composed of DNA.)