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Erwin Chargaff

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Erwin Chargaff

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Ukrainian-born biochemist who emigrated to the United States (1905–2002)

OverviewAI-generated

Erwin Chargaff was a biochemist and chemist who worked in New York City. He was educated at the University of Vienna and Yale University, earning a Doctor of Philosophy degree under the supervision of Fritz Feigl. His professional career included positions at Columbia University, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and the Pasteur Institute, where he served as a professor.

Chargaff was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences. He received the Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Medal of Science, the Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer, and the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

His notable works include The Nucleic acids, Nucleic Acids : Chemistry and Biology, and Brevier der Ahnungen. Eine Auswahl aus dem Werk. He wrote in English and German. Chargaff was born in Chernivtsi in 1905 and died in New York City in 2002. He held citizenship in the United States and Austria.

Synthesized by Vinony from 27 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works
31

Top works

  • The Nucleic acids
  • Nucleic Acids : Chemistry and Biology
  • Brevier der Ahnungen. Eine Auswahl aus dem Werk.
  • The nucleic acids
  • The nucleic acids

via Open Library + Wikidata

Key facts

Born
( 1905-08-11 ) 11 August 1905, Czernowitz , Duchy of Bukovina, Austria-Hungary
Died
20 June 2002 (2002-06-20) (aged 96), New York City , United States
Education
Gymnasium Wasagasse , Vienna College of Technology (1924–1928)
Known for
Chargaff's rules
Spouse
Vera Broido ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1928 ; died 1995 ) ​
Children
Thomas Chargaff
Awards
Pasteur Medal (1949), National Medal of Science (1974)
Fields
Biochemistry
Institutions
Yale University (1925–1930), University of Berlin (1930–1933), Pasteur Institute (1933–1934), Columbia University (1935–1974), Roosevelt Hospital (1974–1992)
Doctoral advisor
Fritz Feigl
Doctoral students
Seymour S. Cohen , Boris Magasanik

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Erwin
Gender
male
Citizenship
Austria
Place of birth
Chernivtsi
Place of death
New York City
Occupation
biographer
Educated at
Yale University
Languages spoken
German
Academic degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctoral advisor
Fritz Feigl
Field of work
biochemistry
Work location
New York City
Show 9 more facts
date of birth
1905-08-11
date of death
2002-06-20
name in native language
Erwin Chargaff
professorship
professor
interested in
biochemistry
Sources (6)

via Wikidata · CC0

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Erwin Chargaff (11 August 1905 – 20 June 2002) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American biochemist, writer, and professor of biochemistry at Columbia University medical school. A Bucovinian Jew who immigrated to the United States during the Nazi regime, he penned a well-reviewed autobiography, Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life Before Nature. Through careful experimentation, Chargaff discovered two rules, called Chargaff's rules, which helped lead to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

Early life

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Erwin Chargaff” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.