Harvard's Nobel Laureates in Medicine

Gary Ruvkun graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in biophysics, followed by a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University in 1982. His doctoral studies focused on bacterial nitrogen fixation genes. In 1993, his research revealed a new world of RNA regulation at an unprecedented small size scale, and the mechanism of that regulation. This work led directly to the research that won him the Nobel Prize, the discovery of microRNAs, a class of tiny RNA molecules that regulate the activities of thousands of genes in plants and animals, including humans. He shared the award with Victor Ambros, who was a professor at Harvard starting in 1984 until moving to University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, in 1992.

William Kaelin received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for the discovery of the pathway by which cells from humans and most animals sense and adapt to changes in oxygen availability, a process essential for survival. The Nobel Prize was shared with Peter J. Ratcliffe of the Francis Crick Institute in London and Gregg L. Semenza of Johns Hopkins University.

Jack Szostak received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for pioneering work in the discovery of telomerase, an enzyme that helps hold the ends of chromosomes together and protect them from deterioration. This research revealed a key cellular function and illuminated processes involved in disease and aging.

Linda Buck received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine along with Richard Axel of Columbia University for their work relating to the sense of smell and odorant receptors, which the Nobel committee noted had “long remained the most enigmatic of our senses. The basic principles for recognizing and remembering about 10,000 different odours were not understood.”

Joseph Murray received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his work pioneering organ and cell transplantation. Long thought impossible because the immune system rejects foreign bodies, Joseph Murray was able successfully transplanting a kidney between identical twins and avoid rejection using radiotherapy and immunosuppressants.

Torsten Wiesel received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine alongside David Hubel for their groundbreaking insights into the structure and function of the visual cortex and the importance of exposure to certain visual stimuli shortly after birth for normal vision development. When told he’d been awarded the Nobel Prize, Torsten Wiesel said, “Oh, no, I was afraid of that! I better go and hide.”

David Hubel received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine alongside Torsten Wiesel for their groundbreaking insights into the structure and function of the visual cortex and the importance of exposure to certain visual stimuli shortly after birth for normal vision development. The pair describe their work as a 50-50 effort. “It’s been a real Gilbert and Sullivan sort of thing. Not that we would compare ourselves to those celestial people, but they did do different things and you wouldn’t say one did more than the other,” David Hubel explained.

Baruj Benacerraf received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his discovery that genetic factors play a central role in the function of the immune system, a finding that paved the way for most of modern immunology. His Nobel prize was shared with his colleagues Jean Dausset of the Université de Paris and George D. Snell of Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

George Wald received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his contributions to knowledge of the human eye, particularly the visual pigments and how light affects them. He was on the forefront of the revolution that changed biology from a cellular to a molecular science. He shared the Nobel Prize with Ragnar Granit of Karolinska Institutet and Haldan Keffer Hartline of Rockefeller University.

Konrad Bloch’s received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his research understanding how cholesterol and fatty acids are formed and converted in the body. This knowledge helped researchers better understand heart disease and other illnesses in which changes in cholesterol formation can play a role. He shared the Nobel Prize with Feodor Lynen of Max-Planck-Institut für Zellchemie.

James Watson received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for discovering the structure of the DNA molecule, one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th century. He won the Nobel Prize with Francis Crick of MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Maurice Wilkins of London University.

Georg von Bekesy received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for clarifying how processes in the cochlea in the inner ear convert sound waves into electrical impulses that are passed on to the brain, resulting in hearing.