Alfred Day Hershey (December 4, 1908 - May 22, 1997) was a Nobel Prize-winning bacteriologist. December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... May 22 is the 142nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (143rd in leap years). ... The Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell) are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. ... Microbiology (in Greek micron = small and biologia = studying life) is the study of microorganisms, including unicellular (single-celled) eukaryotes and prokaryotes, fungi, and viruses. ...

He received his B. S. in chemistry at Michigan State University in 1930 and his Ph. D. in bacteriology in 1934, taking a position shortly thereafter at the Department of Bacteriology at Washington University in St. Louis. Michigan State University is a university in East Lansing, Michigan near the state capital of Lansing. ... 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Microbiology (in Greek micron = small and biologia = studying life) is the study of microorganisms, including unicellular (single-celled) eukaryotes and prokaryotes, fungi, and viruses. ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Microbiology (in Greek micron = small and biologia = studying life) is the study of microorganisms, including unicellular (single-celled) eukaryotes and prokaryotes, fungi, and viruses. ... Washington University in St. ...

He began performing experiments with bacteriophages with Italian-American Salvador Edward Luria and German Max Delbruck in 1940, and observed that when two different strains of bacteriophage have infected the same bacteria, the two viruses may exchange genetic information. ... Salvador Edward Luria (August 13, 1912 - February 6, 1991) was a naturalized American microbiologist whose pioneering work on phage helped open up molecular biology. ... Max Delbrück (September 4, 1906 - March 9, 1981) was a German biologist. ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... A phage (also called bacteriophage) (in Greek phageton = food/consumption) is a small virus that infects only bacteria. ... A common alternate meaning of virus is computer virus. ... A DNA sequence (sometimes genetic sequence) is a succession of letters representing the primary structure of a real or hypothetical DNA molecule or strand, The possible letters are A, C, G, and T, representing the four nucleotide subunits of a DNA strand (adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine), and typically these are...

He moved to Cold Spring Harbor, New York in 1950 to join the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Genetics, where he performed the famous blender experiment with Martha Chase in 1952. This experiment provided more evidence that DNA, not protein, was the genetic material. Cold Spring Harbor is a census-designated place located in Suffolk County, New York. ... Events January January 5 - US Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a resolution calling for examination of organized crime in the USA January 6 - The United Kingdom recognizes the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) is a foundation established by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to support scientific research. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... The Hershey-Chase experiment was a series of experiments conducted in 1952 by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase that identified DNA to be the genetic material of phages and, ultimately, of all organisms. ... Martha Chase was one of the leading researchers at the coveted Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the 1950s. ...

He became director of the Carnegie Institution in 1962 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969, shared with Luria and Delbruck for their discovery on the replication of viruses and their genetic structure. List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physiology or Medicine from 1901 to the present day. ...

Further reading

A.D. Hershey and M. Chase, 1952. Independent functions of viral protein and nucleic acid in growth of bacteriophage. Journal of General Physiology 36: 39-56.