Famous Inventors Born in June
Torsten Nils Wiesel
Date of Birth: June 3, 1924
Profession: Swedish neurophysiologist; Nobel laureate.
Notable Works: He discovered concerning information processing in the visual system. These studies opened the door for the understanding and treatment of childhood cataracts and strabismus. They were also important in the study of cortical plasticity
Prestigious Honours and Awards: Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon, 2009 (Japan); Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1981; Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, 1978; Elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1967; Elected a ForMemRS in 1982; W.H. Helmerich III Award in 1989; Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience in 1993; National Medal of Science in 2005 (US);
Heinrich Otto Wieland
Date of Birth: June 4, 1877
Profession: German chemist; Nobel laureate.
Notable Works: It was Wieland’s work on bile acids, a fiendishly complex family of steroids, which won him his Nobel Prize. His work has led to many medications for a variety of diseases and with the advance of genetic research we know that steroid hormones have huge consequences in the cell.
Prestigious Honours and Awards: Otto Hahn Prize for Chemistry and Physics (1955); Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts (1952); Goethe Medal (1942); ForMemRS (1931); Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1927).
Paul Berg
Date of Birth: June 30, 1926
Profession: American biochemist; Nobel laureate.
Notable Works: As a young researcher he resolved several key problems in metabolic chemistry, and went on to discover the mechanisms by which DNA and RNA direct the synthesis of proteins in living systems. In 1972, he and his colleagues at Stanford University synthesized the first recombinant DNA (rDNA), and he subsequently led the international community of rDNA researchers in their efforts to address the potential physical and ethical hazards posed by that revolutionary technology.
Prestigious Honours and Awards: Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1980); AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility (1982); National Medal of Science (1983); Max Delbrück Medal (1999).
Barbara McClintock
Date of Birth: June 16, 1902
Profession: American scientist and cytogeneticist; Nobel laureate.
Notable Works: McClintock’s work on the cytogenetics of maize led her to theorize that genes are transposable––they can move around––on and between chromosomes. McClintock drew this inference by observing changing patterns of coloration in maize kernels over generations of controlled crosses.
Prestigious Honours and Awards: Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1944); National Medal of Science (1970); Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal (1981); Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1982); Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1983).
Ernst Chain
Date of Birth: June 19, 1906
Profession: German-born British biochemist.
Notable Works: He joined Howard Florey to investigate natural antibacterial agents produced by microorganisms. This led him and Florey to revisit the work of Alexander Fleming, who had described penicillin nine years earlier. Chain and Florey went on to discover penicillin’s therapeutic action and its chemical composition. He also theorized the structure of penicillin, which was confirmed by x-ray crystallography done by Dorothy Hodgkin.
Prestigious Honours and Awards: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1945); Fellow of the Royal Society (1948); Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (1954); Knight Bachelor (1969).
George Ellery Hale
Date of Birth: June 29, 1868
Profession: American astrophysicist.
Notable Works: He is best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-leading telescopes
Prestigious Honours and Awards: Janssen Medal (1894); Henry Draper Medal (1904); Bruce Medal (1916); Actonian Prize (1921); Elliott Cresson Medal (1926); Copley Medal (1932).
About The Author
Angelina Kushnarova
Angelina Kushnarova (Sverediuk) was born in Ukraine. She graduated from Ternopil Medical University with a specialization in Medicine and completed an internship in Radiology at Lviv University. She worked as a Radiologist, while also working as a web developer.