Editing Alec Jeffreys

{{Short description|British geneticist (born 1950)}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = Sir
| name              = Alec Jeffreys
| honorific_suffix  = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH|FRS|MAE}}
| image             = Alec Jeffreys.jpg
| caption           = Alec Jeffreys, 2009
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1950|1|9|df=y}}<ref name=whoswho/>
| birth_place       = [[Oxford]], [[Oxfordshire]], England
| spouse            = {{marriage|Susan Miles|1971}}
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| thesis_url        = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.460797
| thesis_title      = Studies on the mitochondria of cultured mammalian cells
| thesis_year       = 1975
| doctoral_students = 
| field             = [[Genetics]]<ref name=scopus>{{Scopus id}}</ref>
| work_institutions = {{Plainlist|
* [[University of Amsterdam]]
*  [[University of Leicester]]}}
| education         = [[University of Oxford]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[DPhil]])
| known_for         = [[Genetic fingerprinting]]
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Mendel Medal (genetics)|Mendel Medal]] (1987)
* [[Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society|Bicentenary Medal]] (1987)
* [[Colworth Medal]] (1987)<ref>{{Cite journal |pmid=2887471 |year=1987 |last1=Jeffreys |first1=Alec John |title=Highly variable minisatellites and DNA fingerprints |journal=Biochemical Society Transactions |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=309–17 |doi=10.1042/bst0150309 |url=https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/450/1/BST0150309.pdf |hdl=2381/450 |access-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809072903/https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/450/1/BST0150309.pdf |archive-date=9 August 2017 |url-status=dead |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
* [[Albert Einstein World Award of Science]] (1996)
* [[Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine]] (2004)<ref name="The winners of the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine" />
* [[Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research|Lasker award]] (2005)
* [[Royal Medal]] (2004)
* Great Briton Award (2006)
* [[Copley Medal]]<ref name="AJ2014">{{cite news|url=http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Sir-Alec-wins-science-s-oldest-prize/story-22074042-detail/story.html|work=Leicester Mercury|title=Leicester University Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys wins science's oldest prize|date=5 August 2014|access-date=5 August 2014|archive-date=16 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516190048/http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Sir-Alec-wins-science-s-oldest-prize/story-22074042-detail/story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> (2014)
* [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] (2016)}}
| module            = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Alec Jeffries BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 9 Dec 2007 b008fcdz.flac|title={{center|Alec Jeffreys' voice}}|type=speech|description={{center|[[:File:Alec Jeffries BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 9 Dec 2007 b008fcdz.flac|Recorded December 2007]] from the BBC Radio 4 programme ''[[Desert Island Discs]]''}}}}
}}

'''Sir Alec John Jeffreys''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|CH|FRS|MAE}}<ref name=frs/> (born 9 January 1950)<ref name=whoswho/> is a British [[geneticist]] known for developing techniques for [[genetic fingerprinting]] and [[DNA profiling]] which are now used worldwide in [[forensic science]] to assist police detective work and to resolve paternity and immigration disputes.<ref name=scopus/><ref name="BBC">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8245312.stm DNA pioneer's 'eureka' moment]  BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2011</ref><ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/>

Jeffreys is professor of genetics at the [[University of Leicester]],<ref name="Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys">{{Cite journal 
|last1 = Zagorski|first1 = Nick 
|title = Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys
|doi = 10.1073/pnas.0603953103 
|journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 
|volume = 103 
|issue = 24 
|pages = 8918–8920 
|year = 2006 
|pmid = 16754883 
|pmc =1482540 
|bibcode = 2006PNAS..103.8918Z 
|doi-access = free 
}}</ref><ref name="UofL AJ">{{cite web|url=http://www.le.ac.uk/genetics/pages/staff/staff_pages/jeffreys.html|title=Staff pages: Professor Sir Alec J. Jeffreys FRS |access-date=15 December 2007|publisher=University of Leicester|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026015206/http://www.le.ac.uk/genetics/pages/staff/staff_pages/jeffreys.html |archive-date=26 October 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and became an honorary [[Freedom of the city|freeman]] of the City of [[Leicester]] on 26 November 1992.<ref name="freeman Leicester">{{cite web|url=http://www.leicester.gov.uk/about-leicester/lordmayorcivic/freemen/honorary-freemen/list-of-freemen |title=List of persons upon whom the honorary freedom of the city has been conferred |access-date=15 December 2007 |publisher=Leicester City Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414130133/http://www.leicester.gov.uk/about-leicester/lordmayorcivic/freemen/honorary-freemen/list-of-freemen |archive-date=14 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1994, he was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] by Queen [[Elizabeth II]] for services to genetics.<ref name="Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys"/><ref>{{Cite journal|pmid = 24245655|pmc = 3831583
|year = 2013
|last1 = Jeffreys
|first1 = A. J.
|title = The man behind the DNA fingerprints: An interview with Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys
|journal = Investigative Genetics
|volume = 4
|issue = 1
|pages = 21
|doi = 10.1186/2041-2223-4-21
|doi-access = free
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/leicester/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8242000/8242497.stm|title=Jeffreys reflects on DNA finding|date=11 September 2009|work=BBC News}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Jeffreys was born into a middle-class family in [[Oxford]], where he spent the first six years of his life until 1956 when the family moved to [[Luton]], [[Bedfordshire]].<ref name=whoswho/> He says he inherited his curiosity and inventiveness from his father and paternal grandfather, who held a number of patents.<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/> When he was eight, his father gave him a [[chemistry set]], which he enhanced over the next few years with extra chemicals, even including a small bottle of [[sulfuric acid|sulphuric acid]].<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/> He says he liked making small explosions, but an accidental splash of the sulphuric acid caused a burn, which left a permanent scar on his chin (now under his beard).<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/> His father also bought him a [[Victorian era|Victorian-era]] brass [[microscope]],<ref name = "nature med 2005"/> which he used to examine biological specimens.<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/> At about 12, he made a small dissecting kit (including a scalpel, crafted from a flattened pin) which he used to dissect a [[bumblebee]], but he got into trouble with his parents when he progressed to dissecting a larger specimen. One Sunday morning he found a deceased cat on the road while doing his [[Newspaper delivery|paper round]] and took it home in his bag. He relates that he started to dissect it on the dining room table before Sunday lunch, causing a foul smell throughout the house after he ruptured its intestines.<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/>

Jeffreys was a pupil at Luton Grammar School and then [[Luton Sixth Form College]].<ref name="UofL 2004">{{cite web|url=http://www.le.ac.uk/ua/pr/gen%20supp.pdf |title=The Gene Genius |date=September 2004 |publisher=University of Leicester |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109215809/http://www.le.ac.uk/ua/pr/gen%20supp.pdf |archive-date=9 November 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He won a scholarship to study at [[Merton College, Oxford]] on a four-year course, where he graduated in 1971 with [[British undergraduate degree classification|first-class honours]] in [[biochemistry]].<ref name=CV-AJ/> Jeffreys completed his [[Doctor of Philosophy]] degree on the [[mitochondria]] of cultured mammalian cells, as a postgraduate student at the Genetics Laboratory at the University of Oxford.<ref name=jeffreysphd>{{cite thesis |degree=DPhil |first=Alec |last=Jeffreys |title=Studies on the mitochondria of cultured mammalian cells |publisher=University of Oxford |date=1975 |url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_OX:oxfaleph019879695 |website=bodleian.ox.ac.uk |id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.460797}} |oclc=500483911 |access-date=29 March 2018 |archive-date=27 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527135043/http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=SOLO&docid=oxfaleph019879695&context=L&search_scope=LSCOP_OX |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Career and research==
[[File:Alec Jeffreys -2008.jpg|thumb|Alec Jeffreys]]
After finishing his doctorate, he moved to the [[University of Amsterdam]], where he worked on mammalian genes as a research fellow,<ref name = "UofL 2004"/> and then to the [[University of Leicester]] in 1977, where in 1984 he discovered a method of showing variations between individuals' DNA, inventing and developing [[genetic fingerprinting]].<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/><ref name = "welcome 2004"/>

===Genetic fingerprinting===
Jeffreys says he had a "[[eureka moment]]" in his lab in Leicester after looking at the [[X-ray]] film image of a [[DNA]] experiment on 10 September 1984, which unexpectedly showed both similarities and differences between the DNA of different members of his technician's family.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name = "welcome 2004"/> Within about half an hour, he continued, he realised the possible scope of DNA fingerprinting, which uses variations in the [[genetic information]] to identify individuals. The method has become important in [[forensic science]] to assist police detective work, and it has also proved useful in resolving paternity and immigration disputes.<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/> The method can also be applied to non-human species, for example in wildlife [[population genetics]] studies.<ref name="DNA Fingerprinting Zoology 2014" /> Before his methods were commercialised in 1987, his laboratory was the only centre in the world that carried out DNA fingerprinting, and was consequently very busy, receiving inquiries from all over the globe.<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/><ref name="welcome 2004">{{cite web|url=http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_wtd020877.html |title=Discovering DNA fingerprinting: Sir Alec Jeffreys describes its development |publisher=[[Wellcome Trust]] |date=4 February 2004 |first=Giles |last=Newton |access-date=23 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305135415/http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_wtd020877.html |archive-date=5 March 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Jeffreys's DNA method was first put to use in 1985 when he was asked to help in a disputed immigration case to confirm the identity of a British boy whose family was originally from [[Ghana]].<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/> The case was resolved when the DNA results proved that the boy was closely related to the other members of the family, and Jeffreys saw the relief in the mother's face when she heard the results.<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/> DNA fingerprinting was first used in a police forensic test to identify the killer of two teenagers, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, who had been raped and murdered in [[Narborough, Leicestershire]], in 1983 and 1986 respectively. [[Colin Pitchfork]] was identified and convicted of their murders after samples taken from him matched [[semen]] samples taken from the two dead girls.<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/> This turned out to be a specifically important identification; British authorities believe that without it an innocent man would have inevitably been convicted. Not only did Jeffreys' work, in this case, prove who the real killer was, but it exonerated Richard Buckland, initially a prime suspect, who likely would have spent his life in prison otherwise. The story behind the investigations is told in [[Joseph Wambaugh]]'s 1989 best-selling book ''The Blooding: The True Story of the Narborough Village Murders'' and the murders and subsequent solving of the crimes was featured in Episode 4 of the first season of the 1996 American TV series ''[[Forensic Files|Medical Detectives]]'' in which Jeffreys himself also appears. A further television mini-series based on these events was released in 2015, ''[[Code of a Killer]]''. In 1992, Jeffreys's methods were used to confirm the identity for German prosecutors of the body of [[Josef Mengele]], who had died in 1979, by comparing DNA obtained from a [[femur]] bone of his exhumed skeleton,<ref name = "nature med 2005">{{Cite journal | last1 = Hodgson | first1 = J. | title = Ten years of biotech gaffes|doi = 10.1038/nbt0306-270|journal = Nature Biotechnology|volume = 24|issue = 3|pages = 270–273|year = 2006|pmid =  16525384| s2cid = 560311 }}</ref> with DNA from his mother and son, in a similar way to paternity testing.<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/>

===DNA profiling===
[[DNA profiling]], based on typing individual highly variable [[minisatellite]]s in the [[human genome]], was also developed by Alec Jeffreys and his team in 1985,<ref>{{Cite journal 
|last1 = Jeffreys | first1 = A. 
|last2 = Wilson | first2 = V. 
|last3 = Thein | first3 = S. 
|title = Hypervariable 'minisatellite' regions in human DNA 
|journal = Nature 
|volume = 314 
|issue = 6006 
|pages = 67–73 
|year = 1985 
|pmid = 3856104
|doi=10.1038/314067a0
| bibcode = 1985Natur.314...67J 
| s2cid = 4356170 
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
|last1 = Jeffreys | first1 = A. 
|last2 = Wilson | first2 = V. 
|last3 = Thein | first3 = S. 
|title = Individual-specific 'fingerprints' of human DNA 
|journal = Nature 
|volume = 316 
|issue = 6023 
|pages = 76–79 
|year = 1985
|pmid = 2989708
|doi=10.1038/316076a0
 | bibcode = 1985Natur.316...76J
| s2cid = 4229883 
|doi-access = free 
}}</ref> with the term (DNA fingerprinting) being retained for the initial test that types many [[minisatellite]]s simultaneously. By focusing on just a few of these highly variable minisatellites, DNA profiling made the system more sensitive, more reproducible and amenable to computer databases. It soon became the standard forensic DNA system used in criminal case work and [[paternity testing]] worldwide.

The development of DNA amplification by the [[polymerase chain reaction]] (PCR) opened up new approaches to forensic DNA testing, allowing automation, greatly increased sensitivity, and a move to alternative marker systems. The most commonly used markers are now variable [[microsatellite]]s, also known as [[short tandem repeat]]s (STRs), which Jeffreys first exploited in 1990 in the [[Joseph Mengele|Mengele]] case.<ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Jeffreys | first1 = A. 
| last2 = Allen | first2 = M. 
| last3 = Hagelberg | first3 = E. |author-link3=Erika Hagelberg
| last4 = Sonnberg | first4 = A. 
| title = Identification of the skeletal remains of Josef Mengele by DNA analysis 
| journal = Forensic Science International 
| volume = 56 
| issue = 1 
| pages = 65–76 
| year = 1992 
| pmid = 1398379 | doi=10.1016/0379-0738(92)90148-P
}}</ref> STR profiling was further refined by a team of scientists led by Peter Gill at the Forensic Science Service in the 1990s, allowing the launch of the [[UK National DNA Database]] (NDNAD) in 1995.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} With highly automated and sophisticated equipment, modern-day DNA profiling can process hundreds of samples each day. Sixteen microsatellites, plus a marker for sex determination, are used with the current system developed for the NDNAD, giving a discrimination power of one in over a billion. Under British law, anyone arrested in England, Wales or Northern Ireland has their DNA profile taken and stored on the database whether or not they are convicted (different rules apply in Scotland).<ref name="DNA and Crime Investigation: Scotland and the UK National DNA Database"/> The national database in 2020 contained the DNA information of about 5.6 million people.<ref>{{Cite book|date=September 2020|title=National DNA Database Strategy Board Biennial Report 2018 – 2020|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/913015/NDNAD_Strategy_Board_AR_2018-2020_print.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810222405/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/913015/NDNAD_Strategy_Board_AR_2018-2020_print.pdf |archive-date=2022-08-10 |url-status=live|access-date=6 November 2020|website=UK Home Office|publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office|page=10|isbn=978-1-5286-1916-5}}</ref> Jeffreys has opposed the current use of DNA profiling, where the government has access to that database,<ref name="The informer in your blood"/> and has instead proposed a database of all people's DNA, access to which would be controlled by an independent third party.<ref name="Privacy fears over DNA database"/>

===Awards and honours===
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
* 1986 – Elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (FRS)<ref name=frs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316060617/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/fellowship/fellows/|archive-date=2015-03-16|url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/fellowship/fellows/|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|location=London|title=Fellows of the Royal Society}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.royalsociety.org/downloaddoc.asp?id=4274
|publisher =The Royal Society
|title = List of Fellows of the Royal Society: 1660–2007: A – J
|access-date =9 October 2007
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071212012200/http://royalsociety.org/downloaddoc.asp?id=4274| archive-date = 12 December 2007}}</ref>
* 1989 – Press, Radio and TV awards for the [[Midlander of the Year]], 1988, 1989<ref name=Sleeman/>
* 1991 – Appointed as a [[Royal Society|Royal Society Research Professor]].<ref name="FRS prof AJ">{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1523 |title=Sir Alec Jeffreys FRS – DNA fingerprinting |publisher=The Royal Society |access-date=15 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609102605/http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1523 |archive-date=9 June 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 26 November 1992 – Honorary [[Freedom of the city|freeman]] of the [[Leicester|City of Leicester]].<ref name = "freeman Leicester"/>
* 1994 – [[Knight Bachelor|Knighted]] for services to genetics<ref name=Evidence>{{cite book|last1=Evans|first1=Colin|title=Evidence|date=2010|publisher=Chelsea House|location=New York|isbn=978-1-60413-615-9|page=77|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5gMnMlGtC8C&pg=PA77}}</ref><ref name=HKC2013>{{cite web|title=188th Congregation (2013)|url=http://www4.hku.hk/hongrads/index.php/archive/graduate_detail/317|website=University of Hong Kong|access-date=3 April 2015|archive-date=18 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418085509/http://www4.hku.hk/hongrads/index.php/archive/graduate_detail/317|url-status=dead}}</ref> and to science and technology.<ref name=Newton>{{cite book|last1=Newton|first1=David E.|title=DNA evidence and forensic science|date=2008|publisher=Facts on File|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8160-7088-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dnaevidenceforen0000newt/page/100 100]–101|url=https://archive.org/details/dnaevidenceforen0000newt|url-access=registration|access-date=3 April 2015}}</ref>
* 1995 – Honorary member of the [[International Society for Forensic Genetics]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.isfg.org/About/Honorary+Members |title=ISFG - About/Honorary Members |website=www.isfg.org |access-date=8 September 2019}}</ref>
* 1996 – [[Albert Einstein World Award of Science]].<ref name="Albert Einstein World Award of Science"/>
* 1998 – [[Australia Prize]], 1998.<ref name=AUSGov>{{cite web|title=1998 Australia Prize PROFESSOR SIR ALEC JEFFREYS (UK) |url=https://grants.innovation.gov.au/SciencePrize/Pages/Doc.aspx?name=previous_winners/Aust1998Jeffreys.htm |website=Australian Government Department of Industry |access-date=3 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118041828/https://grants.innovation.gov.au/SciencePrize/Pages/Doc.aspx?name=previous_winners%2FAust1998Jeffreys.htm |archive-date=18 January 2015}}</ref>
* 1999 – [[Stokes Medal|Sir George Stokes Medal]]<ref name=Sleeman>{{cite book|last1=Sleeman|first1=Elizabeth|title=The international who's who 2004.|date=2003|publisher=Europa|location=London|isbn=978-1-85743-217-6|page=813|edition=67th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=neKm1X6YPY0C&pg=PA813}}</ref>
* 2003 – [[Association for Molecular Pathology]] Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics <ref>{{cite web |url =https://www.amp.org/membership/awards-grants-honors/amp-award-for-excellence-in-molecular-diagnostics/past-recipients/
|title = Association for Molecular Pathology Past Award Recipients
|access-date =3 March 2023}}</ref>
* 2004 – [[Honorary degree|Honorary doctorate]] awarded by the University of Leicester, where Jeffreys is a member of staff.<ref name="Response by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys"/>
* 2004 – [[Royal Medal]] of the [[Royal Society]].<ref name="Royal recent winners"/>
* 2004 – [[Pride of Britain Award]] for Lifetime Achievement.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120906151946/http://www.prideofbritain.com/contentpages/winners/2004/sir-alec-jeffreys.aspx The Pride of Britain Awards – Lifetime Achievement, Sir Alec Jeffreys] Retrieved 14 October 2011</ref>
* 2004 – [[Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine]].<ref name="The winners of the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine"/>
* 2005 – [[Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research]],<ref name = "Lasker acceptance remarks">{{cite web
|url = http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/library/2005_jeffreys.shtml
|title = 2005 Albert Lasker Award – Acceptance remarks by Alec Jeffreys
|access-date =19 December 2007 |publisher = Lasker Foundation
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071215162525/http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/library/2005_jeffreys.shtml| archive-date = 15 December 2007}}</ref> jointly with [[Edwin Southern]] of the University of Oxford.<ref name = "Lasker 2005">{{cite web
|url = http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/library/2005clinical.shtml
|title = 2005 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research
|access-date =19 December 2007 |publisher = Lasker Foundation
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071211191805/http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/library/2005clinical.shtml |archive-date = 11 December 2007}}</ref>
* 2005 – [[United States National Academy of Sciences]],<ref name = "NAS Member">{{cite web
|url = http://www.nasonline.org/site/Dir/12573455?pg=vprof&mbr=1006666&returl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasonline.org%2Fsite%2FDir%2F12573455%3Fpg%3Dsrch%26view%3Dbasic&retmk=search_again_link
|title = Alec Jeffreys NAS biography
|access-date = 9 February 2009
|publisher = NAS website
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090414111602/http://www.nasonline.org/site/Dir/12573455?pg=vprof&mbr=1006666&returl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasonline.org%2Fsite%2FDir%2F12573455%3Fpg%3Dsrch%26view%3Dbasic&retmk=search_again_link
|archive-date = 14 April 2009
|url-status = dead
}}</ref> elected member.
* 2006 – Great Briton Award for the Greatest Briton of the year, winner in the category of Science and Innovation, as well as the overall winner.<ref name=Briton>{{cite news|title=University of Leicester Professor Voted 'Great Briton of 2006'|url=http://www.le.ac.uk/ebulletin-archive/ebulletin/news/press-releases/2000-2009/2007/01/nparticle.2007-01-19.html|access-date=3 April 2015|work=University of Leicester News|date=19 January 2007}}</ref>
* 2006 – [[Dr A.H. Heineken Prize]] for Biochemistry and Biophysics.<ref name="Laureates: Alec J. Jeffreys"/>
* 8 March 2007 – Honorary degree from [[King's College London]].<ref name="King's first Honorary Degree Ceremony"/>
* 23 January 2008 – Graham Medal of the Glasgow Philosophical Society, awarded after he gave his lecture "DNA Profiling; Past, present and future", which was nominated as the Graham Lecture.<ref name="Lecture Abstract: Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys 'DNA Fingerprinting and beyond'"/>
* 16 November 2009 – Awarded [[Honorary degree|Honorary]] Doctor of Science by the [[University of Huddersfield]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hud.ac.uk/awards/honorary_awards.html |title=The University of Huddersfield's 2009 Honorary Award recipients |publisher=University of Huddersfield |date=9 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710135432/http://www.hud.ac.uk/awards/honorary_awards.html |archive-date=10 July 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 14 April 2010 – Awarded [[Edinburgh]] Medal<ref name="Edinburgh Medal"/>
* April 2010 – Officially opened the new [[Soar Valley College]] building in [[Leicester]].<ref name=Soar>{{cite news|title=DNA mastermind Sir Alec Jeffreys officially opens Leicester specialist college|work=Leicester Mercury|date=22 April 2010|url=http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/DNA-mastermind-officially-opens-specialist-college/story-12056006-detail/story.html|access-date=3 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408201522/http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/DNA-mastermind-officially-opens-specialist-college/story-12056006-detail/story.html|archive-date=8 April 2015}}</ref>
* 21 February 2011 – Awarded [[ABRF]] Annual Award<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conf.abrf.org/index.cfm/page/awards/ABRF_Award.htm |title=ABRF Annual Award for Outstanding Contributions to Biomolecular Technologies |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122150951/http://conf.abrf.org/index.cfm/page/awards/ABRF_Award.htm |archive-date=22 January 2011 }}</ref>
* 2012 – Officially opened the Sir Alec Jeffreys Building in [[Wakefield|Wakefield, West Yorkshire]], the scientific support building for [[West Yorkshire Police]] and the wider [[Yorkshire and the Humber|Yorkshire and the Humber region]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2012/may/the-father-of-dna-fingerprinting-opens-the-new-scientific-support-building-in-wakefield|title=The 'Father' of DNA fingerprinting opens the new Scientific Support Building in Wakefield|date=3 May 2012|access-date=18 June 2020|archive-date=21 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621154921/https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2012/may/the-father-of-dna-fingerprinting-opens-the-new-scientific-support-building-in-wakefield|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2014 – [[Copley Medal]]<ref name="AJ2014"/>
* 22 January 2014 – Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from [[De Montfort University]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www2.le.ac.uk/staff/community/people/staffupdates/2014/january/sir-alec-jeffreys-to-receive-honorary-degree-from-de-montfort-university | title=Sir Alec Jeffreys to receive honorary degree from de Montfort University – University of Leicester | access-date=7 June 2018 | archive-date=12 June 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140525/https://www2.le.ac.uk/staff/community/people/staffupdates/2014/january/sir-alec-jeffreys-to-receive-honorary-degree-from-de-montfort-university | url-status=dead }}</ref>
*2017 – [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/580999/new-years-honours-2017-full-list.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231075327/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/580999/new-years-honours-2017-full-list.pdf |archive-date=2016-12-31 |url-status=live |title=The New Year's Honours List 2017|date=31 December 2016}}</ref>
{{div col end}}

==Personal life==
Jeffreys met his future wife, Sue Miles, in a youth club in the centre of [[Luton]], Bedfordshire, before he became a university student,<ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/><ref name = "UofL 2004"/> and they married on 28 August 1971.<ref name=Debretts2005>{{cite book|title=Debrett's People of Today 2005|year=2005|edition=18th|isbn=1-870520-10-6|publisher=[[Debrett's]]|page=857}}</ref> Jeffreys has one brother and one sister; he and his wife have two daughters, born in 1979 and 1983.<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Jeffreys, Sir Alec John | id = U21923 | year = 2007 | doi =10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.21923 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford}}</ref><ref name=Debretts2005/>

== References ==
{{reflist|35em|refs=

<ref name="Albert Einstein World Award of Science">{{cite web|url=http://www.consejoculturalmundial.org/winners-science-alecjeffreys.php |publisher=World Cultural Council |title=Albert Einstein World Award of Science 1996 |access-date=13 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607003906/http://www.consejoculturalmundial.org/winners-science-alecjeffreys.php |archive-date=7 June 2014 }}</ref>

<ref name="CV-AJ">{{cite web|url=http://www.millenniumprize.fi/uploads/pdf/finalistimateriaali/Jeffreys_CV.pdf |title=CV – Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys |publisher=Technology Academy Foundation, Finland |access-date=30 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718152452/http://www.millenniumprize.fi/uploads/pdf/finalistimateriaali/Jeffreys_CV.pdf |archive-date=18 July 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="DIDiscs AJ">{{cite episode |title=Desert Island Discs with Alec Jeffreys |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b008fcdz |series=Desert Island Discs | series-link=Desert Island Discs |network=[[BBC]] |station=[[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] |airdate=2007-12-09}}</ref>

<ref name="DNA and Crime Investigation: Scotland and the UK National DNA Database">{{cite journal | pmc = 1408072 | title = DNA and Crime Investigation: Scotland and the 'UK National DNA Database' | publisher = UKPMC | first = Paul | last = Johnson |author2=Williams, Robin | date = 22 March 2006 | volume = 10 | pmid = 16557290 | pages = 71–84 | journal = The Scottish Journal of Criminal Justice Studies}}</ref>

<ref name="Edinburgh Medal">{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/Events/Big-Ideas/Edinburgh-Medal-Genetic-fingerprinting-a-story-of-scientific-serendipity |title=Edinburgh Medal |publisher=Edinburgh Science Festival |date=14 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413083543/http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/Events/Big-Ideas/Edinburgh-Medal-Genetic-fingerprinting-a-story-of-scientific-serendipity |archive-date=13 April 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name="King's first Honorary Degree Ceremony">{{cite web |url = http://www.kcl.ac.uk/phpnews/wmview.php?ArtID=1738 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070313184845/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/phpnews/wmview.php?ArtID=1738 |url-status = dead |archive-date = 13 March 2007 |publisher = King's College London |title = King's first Honorary Degree Ceremony| date = 8 March 2007|access-date =15 December 2007}}</ref>

<ref name="Laureates: Alec J. Jeffreys">{{cite web |url=http://www.knaw.nl/cfdata/heineken/laureates_detail.cfm?winnaar__id=53 |title=Laureates: Alec J. Jeffreys |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911091902/http://www.knaw.nl/cfdata/heineken/laureates_detail.cfm?winnaar__id=53 |archive-date=11 September 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name="Lecture Abstract: Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys 'DNA Fingerprinting and beyond'">{{cite web |url = http://www.royalphil.arts.gla.ac.uk/summaries/jeffreys-dna.htm |publisher = Glasgow Philosophical Society |date = 23 January 2008 |title = Lecture Abstract: Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys 'DNA Fingerprinting and beyond'}} {{dead link|date=November 2010}}</ref>

<ref name="Privacy fears over DNA database">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2002/leicester_2002/2252782.stm |publisher=BBC |title=Privacy fears over DNA database |date=12 September 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017155128/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2002/leicester_2002/2252782.stm |archive-date=17 October 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="Response by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys">{{cite web |url = http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/media-centre/dna-fingerprinting/geneticsresponse |archive-url = https://archive.today/20070810052637/http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/media-centre/dna-fingerprinting/geneticsresponse |url-status = dead |archive-date = 2007-08-10 |publisher = University of Leicester |title = Response by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys|date=July 2004 |access-date =15 December 2007}}</ref>

<ref name="Royal recent winners">{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1750 |title=Royal recent winners |publisher=[[The Royal Society]] |access-date=20 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090818005600/http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1750 |archive-date=18 August 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="The informer in your blood">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1066 |title=The informer in your blood |magazine=The First Post |first=Robert |last=Matthews |date=2 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929095631/http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1066 |archive-date=29 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="DNA Fingerprinting Zoology 2014">{{cite journal | pmc = 3909909 | title = DNA Fingerprinting in Zoology: Past, Present, Future | journal = Investigative Genetics | last1 = Chambers | first1 = Geoffrey | last2 = Curtis | first2 = Caitlin | last3 = Millar | first3 = Craig | last4 = Huynen | first4 = Leon | last5 = Lambert | first5 = David | date = 2014 | volume = 5 | issue = 3 | pages = 3 | pmid = 24490906 | doi = 10.1186/2041-2223-5-3 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

<ref name="The winners of the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine">{{cite web |url = http://www.jeantet.ch/e/price/laureatss.php# |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071118022410/http://www.jeantet.ch/e/price/laureatss.php |url-status = dead |archive-date = 18 November 2007 |title = The winners of the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine|publisher = [[Louis-Jeantet Foundation]] |access-date =22 December 2007}}</ref>
}}

{{commons category|Alec Jeffreys}}

{{FRS 1986}}
{{Albert Einstein World Award of Science Laureates|state=collapsed}}
{{Copley Medallists 2001–2050}}
{{Heineken Prizes}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffreys, Alec J.}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Albert Einstein World Award of Science Laureates]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British forensic scientists]]
[[Category:Forensic genetics]]
[[Category:English geneticists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Leicester]]
[[Category:English humanists]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:People from Luton]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization]]
[[Category:Australia Prize recipients]]
[[Category:Winners of the Heineken Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour]]
[[Category:Fellows of Merton College, Oxford]]