Editing Walter Gilbert

{{Short description|American biochemist}}
{{Other people|Walter Gilbert}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Walter Gilbert
| image             = Walter Gilbert HD2008 portrait.JPG
| honorific_suffix  = ForMemRS
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1932|03|21}}
| caption           = Walter Gilbert in 2008
| birth_place       = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
| field             = {{Plainlist|
* [[Biochemistry]]
* [[Physics]]}}
| work_institutions = [[Harvard University]]
| education         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])
* [[University of Cambridge]] ([[PhD]])}}
| thesis_title      = On generalised dispersion relations and meson-nucleon scattering
| thesis_year       = 1958
| thesis_url        = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.599407
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Abdus Salam]]
| doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|
* [[Benno Müller-Hill]]
* [[Didier Stainier]]
* [[George M. Church]]<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Church | first1 = G. | last2 = Gilbert | first2 = W. | title = Genomic sequencing | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 81 | issue = 7 | pages = 1991–1995 | year = 1984 | pmid = 6326095 | pmc = 345422 | doi=10.1073/pnas.81.7.1991|bibcode = 1984PNAS...81.1991C | doi-access = free }}</ref>
* [[Gerald Guralnik]]
* [[Helen Donis-Keller]]
* [[Jack Greenblatt]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://academictree.org/pombe/peopleinfo.php?pid=27347 |title=Jack Greenblatt |website=academictree.org}}</ref>
}}
| known_for         = DNA sequencing
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* [[NAS Award in Molecular Biology]] {{small|(1968)}}
* [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] <small>(1979)</small>
* [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] {{small|(1980)}}}}
| spouse            = {{marriage|Celia Stone|1953}}<ref name=gilbertbio/>
| children          = 2<ref name=gilbertbio/>
| website           = {{URL|http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1980/gilbert-bio.html}}
}}

'''Walter Gilbert''' (born March 21, 1932) is an American [[biochemist]], [[physicist]], [[molecular biology]] pioneer, and [[Nobel laureate]].<ref name=gilbertbio>{{Nobelprize|accessdate=2020-10-11}}</ref><ref name=Shampo/><ref>{{Scopus|id=16143132500}}</ref>

==Education and early life==
Walter Gilbert was born in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], on March 21, 1932, into a [[Jews|Jewish]] family,<ref>{{Cite web |last=JINFO |title=Jewish Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry |url=https://www.jinfo.org/Nobels_Chemistry.html |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=www.jinfo.org}}</ref> the son of Emma (Cohen), a child psychologist, and Richard V. Gilbert, an economist.<ref name=Shampo>{{cite journal |author=Shampo MA, Kyle RA |title=Walter Gilbert--1980 Nobel Prize for Chemistry |journal=Mayo Clin. Proc. |volume=78 |issue=5 |pages=588 |date=May 2003 |pmid=12744546 |doi= 10.4065/78.5.588|url=http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=12744546|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.chilit.org/Published%20Papers/92.%20Schwartzberg%20--%20Advocate.PDF |title = Home - the Chicago Literary Club}}</ref>

When Gilbert was seven years old, the family moved to the [[Washington metropolitan area|Washington D.C. area]] so his father could work under [[Harry Hopkins]] on the New Deal [[Brain trust#Roosevelt's "Brain Trust"|brain trust]]. While living in Washington the family became friends with the family of [[I.F. Stone]] and Wally met Stone's oldest daughter, Celia, when they were both 8. They later married at age 21.<ref>{{cite news |last=Saltzman |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/03/30/five-things-you-should-know-about-wally-gilbert/HGGQQZzV8lgOeB1Ahbn5yI/story.html |title=Five things you should know about Wally Gilbert |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=2018-03-31 |access-date=2018-04-01 }}</ref>

He was educated at the [[Sidwell Friends School]], and attended [[Harvard University]] for undergraduate and graduate studies, earning a [[Bachelor's degree|baccalaureate]] in [[chemistry]] and [[physics]] in 1953 and a [[master's degree]] in physics in 1954.<ref name=Shampo/> He studied for his doctorate at the [[University of Cambridge]], where he earned a [[PhD]] in [[physics]] supervised by the Nobel laureate [[Abdus Salam]] in 1957.<ref name=Shampo/><ref name=phd>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|title=On generalised dispersion relations and meson-nucleon scattering|first= Walter|last=Gilbert|date=1958|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.599407|oclc=879396761}}</ref>

==Career and research==
Gilbert returned to Harvard in 1956 and was appointed assistant professor of physics in 1959.<ref name=Shampo/> Gilbert's wife Celia worked for [[James Watson]], leading Gilbert to become interested in molecular biology.  Watson and Gilbert ran their laboratory jointly through most of the 1960s, until Watson left for [[Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory]].<ref name="Watson">{{ cite book | title = Genes, Girls and Gamow | last = Watson | first = James D. | year = 2003 }}</ref> In 1964 he was promoted to associate professor of biophysics and promoted again in 1968 to professor of biochemistry.<ref name=Shampo/>

Gilbert is a co-founder of the biotech start-up companies [[Biogen]], with Kenneth Murray, Phillip Sharp and Charles Weissman<ref>{{Cite web|last=Stendahl|first=Max|date=May 31, 2018|title=40 years later, Biogen's founders Get the Band Back Together|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2018/05/31/40-years-later-biogen-s-founders-get-the-band-back.html|website=Boston Business Journal}}</ref> and [[Myriad Genetics]] with Dr. Mark Skolnick and [[Kevin Kimberlin]]<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Davies|first1=Kevin|title=Breakthrough: The Race to Find the Breast Cancer Gene|last2=White|first2=Michael|publisher=Wiley|year=1996|pages=199}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=April 25, 2018|title=MYRIAD: PIONEERING PREDICTIVE MEDICINE|url=https://pivotcenter.utah.edu/success-stories/myriad-pioneering-predictive-medicine/|website=University of Utah}}</ref> where he was the first chairman on their respective boards of directors. Gilbert left his position at Harvard to run Biogen as CEO, but was later asked to resign by the company's board of directors.<ref name="Kanigel">{{ cite journal | title = The Genome Project | journal = The New York Times Magazine | date = December 13, 1987 | last = Kanigel | first = Robert| pages = 44, 98–101, 106 | pmid = 11658922 }}</ref> He is a member of the Board of Scientific Governors at [[The Scripps Research Institute]]. Gilbert has served as the chairman of the [[Harvard Society of Fellows]].

In 1996, Gilbert and [[Stuart B. Levy]] founded Paratek Pharmaceuticals. Gilbert served as chairman until 2014.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://paratekpharma.com/about/founders/#dr-gilbert |title = Founders}}</ref>

Gilbert was an early proponent of sequencing the [[human genome]]. At a March 1986 meeting in [[Santa Fe New Mexico]] he proclaimed "The total human sequence is the grail of human genetics". In 1987, he proposed starting a company called Genome Corporation to sequence the genome and sell access to the information.<ref name="Kanigel"/>  In an opinion piece in ''Nature'' in 1991, he envisioned completion of the human genome sequence transforming biology into a field in which computer databases would be as essential as laboratory reagents<ref>{{cite journal | title = Towards a paradigm shift in biology | last=Gilbert | first=Walter | journal=Nature | year=1991 |volume=349 | number=6305 | page=99 |bibcode = 1991Natur.349...99G |doi = 10.1038/349099a0 | pmid=1986314 | s2cid=1173431 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

Gilbert returned to Harvard in 1985.<ref name="Johnson">{{ cite news | last= Johnson | first = Carolyn Y. | title = A physicist, biologist, Nobel laureate, CEO, and now, artist | journal = The Boston Globe | date = March 13, 2015 | url = https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/12/wally-gilbert-physicist-biologist-nobel-laureate-ceo-and-now-artist/b3OsCNVvHZOYCi48Dz4z6H/story.html}}</ref> Gilbert was an outspoken critic of [[David Baltimore]] in the handling of the scientific fraud accusations against [[Thereza Imanishi-Kari]].<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Inquiry lacking due process | journal = The New York Times Books | last = Kolata | first = Gina | date = June 25, 1996 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/specials/baltimore-process.html }}</ref> Gilbert also joined the early [[HIV/AIDS denialism|controversy over the cause of AIDS]].<ref>{{ cite journal | journal = Science | title= The Duesberg Phenomenon | last = Cohen | first = Jon | volume = 266 | issue= 5191 | pages = 1643–1644 | date = December 9, 1984 |pmid=7992043| url = http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/data/cohen/266-5191-1642a.pdf | doi=10.1126/science.7992043|bibcode = 1994Sci...266.1642C }}</ref>
In 1962, Gilbert's physics PhD student [[Gerald Guralnik]] extended Gilbert's work on massless particles; Guralnik's work is widely recognized as an important thread in the discovery of the [[Higgs Boson]].<ref>{{ cite book | title = The Infinity Puzzle: The Personalities, Politics and Extraordinary Science Behind the Higgs Boson | author = Close, Frank  | pages = 146–147 | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2013}}</ref>

With his PhD student [[Benno Müller-Hill]], Gilbert was the first to purify the [[lac repressor]],<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 16591435 | title = Isolation of the lac repressor | last1=Gilbert | first1 = Walter | last2 = Müller-Hill | first2 = Benno | date = December 1966 | volume = 56 | issue = 6 | pages = 1891–1898|journal=PNAS | doi=10.1073/pnas.56.6.1891 | pmc=220206|bibcode = 1966PNAS...56.1891G | doi-access = free }}</ref> just beating out [[Mark Ptashne]] for purifying the first gene regulatory protein.<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 16591470 | journal=PNAS|title = Isolation of the lambda phage repressor | last=Ptashne | first = Mark  | date = February 1967 | volume = 57 | issue = 2 | pages = 306–313 | doi=10.1073/pnas.57.2.306 | pmc=335506|bibcode = 1967PNAS...57..306P | doi-access=free}}</ref>

Together with [[Allan Maxam]], Gilbert developed a new [[DNA sequencing]] method,  [[Maxam–Gilbert sequencing]],<ref>{{cite book | last1=Maxam | first1=Allan | last2=Gilbert | first2=Walter | title=Nucleic Acids Part I | chapter=Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages | series=[[Methods in Enzymology]] | year=1980 |pmid=6246368|volume=65|issue=1|pages=499–560 | doi=10.1016/S0076-6879(80)65059-9| isbn=9780121819651 }}</ref><ref name="Maxam"/> using chemical methods developed by Andrei Mirzabekov. His approach to the first synthesis of [[insulin]] via [[recombinant DNA]]<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Villa-Komaroff L, Efstratiadis A, Broome S, Lomedico P, Tizard R, Naber SP, Chick WL, Gilbert W |title=A bacterial clone synthesizing proinsulin | journal=PNAS | year=1978 | volume=75 |issue=8 | pages=3727–31 | doi=10.1073/pnas.75.8.3727 | pmid=358198|pmc=392859 |bibcode=1978PNAS...75.3727V |doi-access=free }}</ref> lost out to [[Genentech]]'s approach which used genes built up from the nucleotides rather than from natural sources. Gilbert's effort was hampered by a temporary moratorium on recombinant DNA work in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], forcing his group to move their work to an English biological weapons site.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Invisible Frontiers: The Race to Synthesize a Human Gene | last = Hall | first = Stephen S. | year = 1987 | publisher = Atlantic Monthly Press }}</ref>

Gilbert first proposed the terms [[introns]] (intragenic regions) and [[exons]] (expressed regions) in reference to recently discovered phenomenon of splicing<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Berget SM, Moore C, Sharp PA | title = Spliced segments at the 5' terminus of adenovirus 2 late mRNA | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 74 | issue = 8 | pages = 3171–3175 | date = August 1977 | pmid = 269380 | pmc = 431482 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.74.8.3171 | bibcode = 1977PNAS...74.3171B | doi-access = free }}</ref> and suggested explanation for the evolution of introns in a seminal 1978 "News and Views" correspondence to ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' titled "why genes in pieces?".<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Gilbert | first = Walter | title = Why genes in pieces | date =February 9, 1978 | volume = 271 | issue=5645 | page=501 | journal = Nature|bibcode = 1978Natur.271..501G |doi = 10.1038/271501a0 | pmid=622185| s2cid = 4216649 | doi-access = free }}</ref>  In 1986, Gilbert proposed the [[RNA world hypothesis]] for the [[origin of life]],<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gilbert | first1 = W. | title = Origin of life: The RNA world | doi = 10.1038/319618a0 | journal = Nature | volume = 319 | issue = 6055 | pages = 618 | year = 1986 | bibcode=1986Natur.319..618G| s2cid = 8026658 | doi-access = free }}</ref> based on a concept first proposed by [[Carl Woese]] in 1967.

==Awards and honors==
[[File:WalterGilbert2.jpg|thumb|right|Walter Gilbert portrait via the National Library of Medicine]]
In 1969, Gilbert was awarded Harvard's Ledlie Prize.<ref name=Shampo/> In 1972 he was named [[American Cancer Society]] Professor of Molecular Biology.<ref name=Shampo/> In 1979, Gilbert was awarded the [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] from [[Columbia University]] together with [[Frederick Sanger]].<ref name=Shampo/><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brownlee|first1=George G.|author-link1=George Brownlee|title=Frederick Sanger CBE CH OM. 13 August 1918 — 19 November 2013|journal=[[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]]|year=2015|volume=61|publisher=Royal Society publishing|issn=0080-4606|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2015.0013|pages=437–466|doi-access=free}}</ref> That year he was also awarded the [[Gairdner Prize]] and the [[Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]].<ref name=Shampo/>

Gilbert was awarded the 1980 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]], shared with [[Frederick Sanger]] and [[Paul Berg]]. Gilbert and Sanger were recognized for their pioneering work in devising methods for determining the sequence of [[nucleotide]]s in a [[nucleic acid]].

Gilbert has also been honored by the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (US Steel Foundation Award, 1968); [[Massachusetts General Hospital]] (Warren Triennial Prize, 1977);<ref>{{Cite web|title=Warren Triennial Prize|url=https://ecor.mgh.harvard.edu/MeetingsEvents/warren-triennial-prize|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127162258/https://ecor.mgh.harvard.edu/MeetingsEvents/warren-triennial-prize|archive-date=November 27, 2020|access-date=2021-10-05|website=ecor.mgh.harvard.edu}}</ref> the [[New York Academy of Sciences]]; (Louis and Bert Freedman Foundation Award, 1977), the [[Académie des Sciences]] of France (Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer Award, 1977).<ref name=Shampo/> Gilbert was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1987|Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1987]].<ref name=Shampo/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/walter-gilbert-11491/|title=Professor Walter Gilbert ForMemRS|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922134609/https://royalsociety.org/people/walter-gilbert-11491/|archive-date=2015-09-22|location=London}}</ref><ref name=formemrs>{{cite web|title=Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660-2015|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015185820/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml|archive-date=2015-10-15|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2002, he received the [[Biotechnology Heritage Award]], from the [[Biotechnology Industry Organization]] (BIO) and the [[Chemical Heritage Foundation]].<ref name="Biotechnology">{{cite web|title=Biotechnology Heritage Award|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/biotechnology-heritage-award|website=Science History Institute|access-date=22 March 2018|date=2016-05-31}}</ref><ref name=NW2002>{{cite news|title= Paratek Pharmaceuticals Chairman and Co-Founder Dr. Walter Gilbert Receives Heritage Award at BIO 2002|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/paratek-pharmaceuticals-chairman-and-co-founder-dr-walter-gilbert-receives-heritage-award-at-bio-2002-77839297.html|access-date=5 February 2014|newspaper=PR NewsWire|date=10 June 2002}}</ref>

Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert's 1977 paper "A new method for sequencing DNA" was honored by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society for 2017.  It was presented to the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University.<ref name="breakthrough">{{cite web|title=Citations for Chemical Breakthrough Awards 2017 Awardees|url=http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/CCB-2017_Awardees.php|website=Division of the History of Chemistry|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Maxam">{{Cite journal | last1 = Maxam | first1 = A. | last2 = Gilbert | first2 = W. | title = A new method for sequencing DNA | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 74 | issue = 2 | pages = 560–564 | year = 1977 | pmid = 265521 | pmc = 392330 | doi=10.1073/pnas.74.2.560 |bibcode = 1977PNAS...74..560M | doi-access = free }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Gilbert married [[Celia Stone]], the daughter of [[I. F. Stone]], in 1953 and has two children.<ref name=gilbertbio/> After retiring from Harvard in 2001, Gilbert has launched an artistic career to combine art and science. His art format is centered on digital photography.<ref name="Johnson"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nyartbeat.com/event/2019/21A1|title=Wally Gilbert "Worlds"|website=www.nyartbeat.com|access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref>
[[File:Purple Swirl by Wally Gilbert.jpg|thumb|Purple Swirl by Wally Gilbert]]

== See also ==

* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]

==References==
{{Reflist|35em}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Walter Gilbert (biochemist)}}
*{{Nobelprize}}

{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1980 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Walter}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Jewish Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:American biochemists]]
[[Category:21st-century American physicists]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Scientists from Boston]]
[[Category:Harvard Fellows]]
[[Category:Scripps Research]]
[[Category:American biotechnologists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]]
[[Category:Sidwell Friends School alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]