BIOLOGIST

Gerald Edelman

1929 - 2014

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Gerald Maurice Edelman (; July 1, 1929 – May 17, 2014) was an American biologist who shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work with Rodney Robert Porter on the immune system. Edelman's Nobel Prize-winning research concerned discovery of the structure of antibody molecules. In interviews, he has said that the way the components of the immune system evolve over the life of the individual is analogous to the way the components of the brain evolve in a lifetime. There is a continuity in this way between his work on the immune system, for which he won the Nobel Prize, and his later work in neuroscience and in philosophy of mind. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Gerald Edelman is the 140th most popular biologist (down from 136th in 2019), the 1,215th most popular biography from United States (up from 1,245th in 2019) and the 23rd most popular American Biologist. Learn more about Gerald Edelman's academic impact at Rankless.

Gerald Edelman is most famous for his theory of neuronal group selection, which states that the brain is a collection of interconnected neurons that are constantly competing for survival.

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Among BIOLOGISTS

Among biologists, Gerald Edelman ranks 140 out of 1,097Before him are William Jackson Hooker, Lynn Margulis, Gaspard Bauhin, Johann Friedrich Gmelin, Oliver Smithies, and Martin Evans. After him are Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, Edward B. Lewis, Aimé Bonpland, Daniel Nathans, Charles Scott Sherrington, and E. O. Wilson.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1929, Gerald Edelman ranks 64Before him are James Last, Jean Simmons, Bill Evans, Zoltán Czibor, Günter Schabowski, and Gudrun Burwitz. After him are Paul Lauterbur, Alfred Moisiu, Bernard Haitink, Yevgeny Primakov, E. O. Wilson, and Omar Torrijos. Among people deceased in 2014, Gerald Edelman ranks 40Before him are Harold Ramis, Adolfo Suárez, H. R. Giger, Richard Kiel, Masaru Emoto, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. After him are Tito Vilanova, William R. Pogue, Mickey Rooney, Dobrica Ćosić, Luise Rainer, and Karlheinz Böhm.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Gerald Edelman ranks 1,215 out of 20,380Before him are Ted Kennedy (1932), Robert Solow (1924), Carroll O'Connor (1924), Marco Rubio (1971), Robert Venturi (1925), and Linda Hunt (1945). After him are Mark Milley (1958), Paul Lauterbur (1929), John Tate (1925), Bette Midler (1945), Kirstie Alley (1951), and Murray Rothbard (1926).

Among BIOLOGISTS In United States

Among biologists born in United States, Gerald Edelman ranks 23Before him are John Hopfield (1933), Robert Whittaker (1920), Hamilton O. Smith (1931), Sam Harris (1967), John Franklin Enders (1897), and Lynn Margulis (1938). After him are Edward B. Lewis (1918), Daniel Nathans (1928), E. O. Wilson (1929), Howard Martin Temin (1934), Joshua Lederberg (1925), and Thomas Huckle Weller (1915).