Oct. 26, 2007

Comments from Arthur Kornberg's colleagues

Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine: “He helped establish the field of biochemistry and enzymology, trained many of its leaders and fostered the accomplishments of many scientists—many who have gone on to remarkable careers in their own rights. He also played an instrumental role in shaping the current Stanford Medical School by being one of the pioneers who helped transition the school in 1959 from San Francisco to the Stanford campus, recruited its early leaders, helped shape its programs in research and education, and fostered an environment of excellence that continues to this day. He has also been a notable author of books for both the scientific and lay public and a staunch advocate and supporter for basic biomedical research.”

Nobel laureate Paul Berg, PhD, professor emeritus of biochemistry at Stanford: “He was a great motivator. I used to joke and say that he could make anybody do something and make them think that they had come up with the idea of doing it. He had this wonderful touch, being interested, warm, calling you in the middle of the night to find out if your experiment worked. He always stood for the right things. To him, honesty and integrity in science was uppermost.”

Spyros Andreopoulos, emeritus director of the Stanford medical center news bureau: “Our first meeting was the beginning of an enduring friendship in which he let me share his challenges and triumphs. He told me that I should always remember that research is the lifeline of medicine, and that society must be educated to support it. However, over the years, he said, he came to realize the difficulty with research support, which is the failure to understand the nature and importance of basic research, and the need for people like myself to help in creating such understanding. 'You have a big job ahead,' he said.”

Robert Baldwin, PhD, professor emeritus of biochemistry: “My father, Ira Baldwin, was a scientist himself.  He remarked once that the scientific achievements of a scientist often depend on his having been in the right place at the right time.  I feel lucky indeed to have been in the Stanford Biochemistry Department, founded by Arthur Kornberg, when the new science of molecular biology was getting into gear.”

I. Robert Lehman, PhD, professor emeritus of biochemistry: “Arthur Kornberg was a great scientist and one of the greatest biochemists of the 20th century. He was, as I can personally attest, an inspirational teacher. Research that he began in the 1940s with the discovery first of coenzyme and then nucleotide biosyntheses culminated in a detailed molecular description of how the E coli chromosome is replicated. He and his students reconstituted this extraordinarily complex process with pure enzymes, substrates and cofactors, a monumental achievement that will take its place among the great scientific syntheses in the history of experimental science. There is little doubt the ability to clone genes and the tremendous scientific revolution that this new technology created owes a great debt to the polymerases, ligases, nucleases and other enzymes that emerged from these studies and similar ones carried out by the Kornberg lab. Of no less importance, Arthur established a style of science that extended far beyond his own work. For all of us who were fortunate enough to be associated with Arthur over the past half century, his passing is truly a sad event; we will miss him dearly.”

Mark Krasnow, MD, PhD, professor and chair of biochemistry: “Arthur was one of the greatest biochemists of all time, identifying and elucidating some of the most important enzymes and fundamental life processes. His discovery of the enzymes and mechanisms that propagate genes and chromosomes is one of the most significant achievements in biology. He had a passion for enzymes that was deeper and more enduring than any, and kept him pushing the frontiers of biochemistry his entire life and inspired everyone around him. He built the Stanford Biochemistry Department and fostered a unique spirit of scientific cooperation and sharing that lead to the department’s pre-eminence and to its many training and scientific successes including the invention of recombinant DNA technology that catalyzed the molecular biology revolution. He accomplished all this with a grace and style and wit that endeared him to all. It is an honor for me, as for the rest of his students and colleagues, to have known him and learned from him and been inspired by him. He changed the world, one enzyme and one person at a time.”

Jim Spudich, PhD, the Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Cardiovascular Disease: “There are few scientists who have impacted the world of biology as Arthur did. Much of what we take for granted in modern molecular biology stems from his work and that of his trainees and close colleagues. He loved enzymes. Their magic fascinated him. He was focused on experiments up to the very end, and continued to remind us all of the importance of identifying an enzyme activity of interest, designing an appropriate quantitative assay to measure it, purifying the relevant protein or protein complex by following its activity, and then using the assay to completely characterize the system of interest. Having been a young, impressionable PhD student of Arthur’s, I have greatly profited in my own career from the lessons learned from him.  I had the great pleasure of working again with Arthur and his laboratory members in his last years, focused on polyphosphate metabolism and its roles in both prokaryotic and eukarotic cells. We introduced him to the eukaryotic model system Dictyostelium, which proved to have particularly interesting activities involving polyphosphate metabolism. What a pleasure to watch him. His mind never slowed down, still focused on discovery of what enzymes can achieve, and still reminding the members of his lab that 'a day without research is a day wasted.' He lived that creed. But Arthur was much more than a scientist for those of us who had the privilege of knowing him well.  He was a warm and caring human being, with a special charm. Anna and I still have the telegram he sent us when we were married in the Midwest during my PhD student years: 'Congratulations and all the best to the Queen of the East and the Prince of the West.'”

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