BIOLOGIST

Esther Lederberg

1922 - 2006

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Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg (December 18, 1922 – November 11, 2006) was an American microbiologist and a pioneer of bacterial genetics. She discovered the bacterial virus lambda phage and the bacterial fertility factor F, devised the first implementation of replica plating, and furthered the understanding of the transfer of genes between bacteria by specialized transduction. Lederberg also founded and directed the now-defunct Plasmid Reference Center at Stanford University, where she maintained, named, and distributed plasmids of many types, including those coding for antibiotic resistance, heavy metal resistance, virulence, conjugation, colicins, transposons, and other unknown factors. As a woman in a male-dominated field and the wife of Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg, Esther Lederberg struggled for professional recognition. Read more on Wikipedia

Her biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Esther Lederberg is the 381st most popular biologist (down from 336th in 2019), the 3,311th most popular biography from United States (down from 3,105th in 2019) and the 69th most popular American Biologist.

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Among BIOLOGISTS

Among biologists, Esther Lederberg ranks 381 out of 1,097. Before her are Frank Chapman, Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart, Nikolai Severtzov, John Maynard Smith, Samuel Frederick Gray, and Matt Ridley. After her are Michał Boym, François-Alphonse Forel, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst, Carlo Allioni, Louis Claude Richard, and Johann Georg Wagler.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1922, Esther Lederberg ranks 148. Before her are Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia, Emile Habibi, Guy Hamilton, Tadeusz Borowski, and Russ Meyer. After her are Yuri Knorozov, Manshuk Mametova, Gershon Kingsley, Artemio Franchi, Vasko Popa, and Guy Thys. Among people deceased in 2006, Esther Lederberg ranks 123. Before her are Faas Wilkes, Billy Preston, Allen Carr, Marek Grechuta, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, and Jurij Brězan. After her are Alberto Spencer, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, Silva Kaputikyan, Don Thompson, Malcolm Arnold, and Yuval Ne'eman.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Esther Lederberg ranks 3,311 out of 20,380. Before her are William A. Wellman (1896), Michael Nouri (1945), Dana Ivey (1941), Larry Hogan (1956), Channing Tatum (1980), and Ted Levine (1957). After her are Kathryn Adams (1893), Carmen Argenziano (1943), William Stanley Jr. (1858), Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919), Steven Weber (1961), and James Scott (1885).

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Among BIOLOGISTS In United States

Among biologists born in United States, Esther Lederberg ranks 69. Before her are Craig Mello (1960), Craig Venter (1946), Theodore Gill (1837), Henrietta Lacks (1920), Joel Asaph Allen (1838), and Frank Chapman (1864). After her are James Bond (1900), Harold E. Varmus (1939), Martha Chase (1927), James P. Allison (1948), Asa Gray (1810), and Arthur Cronquist (1919).

American born Biologists

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