Baruj Benacerraf

Baruj Benacerraf
Born	October 29, 1920(1920-10-29) Caracas, Venezuela
Died	August 2, 2011(2011-08-02) (aged 90) Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, USA
Citizenship	Venezuela/American
Nationality	Venezuela
Fields	immunology, medicine
Institutions	New York University Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons National Institutes of Health American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard Medical School Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
Alma mater	Columbia University Medical College of Virginia
Known for	Major histocompatibility complex
Notable awards	National Medal of Science 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Spouse	Annette (née Dreyfus) Benacerraf (1922-2011) (m.1943-2011 her death) (one daughter, Beryl Rica Benacerraf, b. 1949)

Baruj Benacerraf (October 29, 1920 – August 2, 2011) was a Venezuelan-born American immunologist, who shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the "discovery of the major histocompatibility complex genes which encode cell surface protein molecules important for the immune system's distinction between self and non-self". His colleagues and shared recipients were Jean Dausset and George Davis Snell.

Early life and education

Benacerraf was born in Caracas, Venezuela on October 29, 1920 to Sephardic Jewish parents. His father was born in the Moroccan city of Tetuan and his mother in Algeria. His brother is well-known philosopher Paul Benacerraf. Benacerraf moved to Paris from Venezuela with his family in 1925. After going back to Venezuela, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1940. In 1942 he earned his B.S. at Columbia University School of General Studies. He then went on to attain the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Medical College of Virginia, the only school to which he was accepted.

From his autobiography at nobelprize.org,

• "By that time, I had elected to study biology and medicine, instead of going into the family business, as my father would have wanted. I did not realize, however, that admission to Medical School was a formidable undertaking for someone with my ethnic and foreign background in the United States of 1942. In spite of an excellent academic record at Columbia, I was refused admission by the numerous medical schools I applied to and would have found it impossible to study medicine except for the kindness and support of George W. Bakeman, father of a close friend, who was then Assistant to the President of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. Learning of my difficulties, Mr. Bakeman arranged for me to be interviewed and considered for one of the two remaining places in the Freshman class."

Career

After his medical internship and US Army service (1945–48), and working at the military hospital of Nancy, he became a researcher at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (1948–50). He performed research in Paris (1950–56), relocated to New York University (1956–68), moved to the National Institutes of Health (1968–70), then joined Harvard University medical school (1970–91) where he became the Fabyan Professor of comparative Pathology, concurrently serving the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston (1980). He began studies of allergies in 1948, and discovered the Ir (immune response) genes that govern transplant rejection (1960s). Counting different editions, he is an author of over 300 books and articles

Awards

He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971.

Rous-Whipple Award of the American Association of Pathologists 1985

National Medal of Science 1990

Gold-Headed Cane Award of the American Association for Investigative Pathology 1996

Charles A. Dana Award for pioneering achievements in Health and Education 1996

Honorary degrees received

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University 1981

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sciences, New York University 1981

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sciences, Yeshiva University 1982

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sciences, Columbia University 1985

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sciences, Adelphi University 1988

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Weizmann Institute of Sciences 1989

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sciences, Gustav Adolphus University 1992

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sciences, Harvard University 1992

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sciences, Université de Bordeaux 1993

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Medicine, University of Vienna 1995

Later years and death

His autobiography was published in 1998. Benacerraf died on August 2, 2011 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts of pneumonia. His wife, Annette, predeceased him this same year on June 3.

See also

• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

Bibliography

• Raju, T N (November 1999). "The Nobel chronicles. 1980: George Davis Snell (1903-96); Jean Baptiste Dausset (b 1916); Baruj Benacerraf (b 19k20)". Lancet 354 (9191): 1738. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)76734-9. PMID 10568613. 
• "The Nobel Lectures in Immunology. The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1980 awarded to Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Daussett & George D. Snell". Scand. J. Immunol. 35 (4): 373–98. April 1992. PMID 1557610. 
• Petrányi, G (April 1981). "[Nobel Prize winners in medicine for 1980. Immunogenetic significance of the main histocompatibility system (George Snell, Jean Dausset, Baruj Benacerraf)]". Orvosi hetilap 122 (14): 835–7. PMID 7019812. 

External links

• 1980 Nobel Medicine Winners
• Nobel autobiography