Featured Scientists
1 | Thelma Estrin
Thelma Estrin, ’48, ’49, Phd ’51, was an early pioneer of the field of medical informatics — the now commonplace practice of applying computers to medical research and treatment. She also was something of a trailblazer for women hoping to pursue careers in the sciences.
2 | Bassam Shakhashiri
Dr. Shakhashiri has given more than 1400 invited lectures and presentations around the world. Shakhashiri is a strong advocate for public education and programs that inform the public about scientific research, creating an “educated citizenry”. He helped to found the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy.
3 | Har Gobind Khorana
While on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Har Gobind Khorana shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for research that showed the order of nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell and control the cell’s synthesis of proteins.
4 | Hector DeLuca
Professor H. F. DeLuca’s laboratory has been devoted to the understanding of metabolism and mechanism of action of vitamins A and D. Initially, work in this group centered around describing which forms of vitamin D and vitamin A are active in correcting deficiency disease.
5 | Jessie Price
Jessie Isabelle Price was a veterinary microbiologist. She isolated and reproduced the cause of the most common life-threatening disease in duck farming in the 1950s and developed vaccines for this and other avian diseases. She moved to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin in 1977, and the study of environmental contaminants and diseases in wildlife, especially water fowl.
6 | Elizabeth McCoy
While working on a government project during World War II, Elizabeth McCoy identified an improved strain of penicillin that allowed for the commercial marketing of the antibiotic. She developed another antibiotic, oligomycin, that is still used as a research chemical today.
7 | Esther Lederberg
Esther Lederberg was the first person to isolate the lambda phage, a bacterial virus that can infect E. coli. Lambda phage has since been used extensively both as a model organism and as a tool in genetics research. She and her then-husband Joshua developed a technique called replica plating, which allowed researchers to move hundreds of colonies of bacteria from one plate to another instead of moving one cluster at a time.
8 | Howard Temin
Howard Temin was a professor of oncology in the McArdle Laboratory, and winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize in medicine for his work. He taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1960 until his death in 1994.
9 | Marcin Filutowicz
Marcin Filutowicz’s academic career was devoted to studying basic processes of DNA replication. He developed highly innovative approaches to combat infectious agents by harnessing the natural antibiotic properties of non-pathogenic microbes. He founded three biotechnology companies: Conjugon/Atterx Biotherapeutics, Inc., founder, president, CSO of AmebaGone, Inc. and Agrafilms, Inc.
10 | Maya Warren
Maya Warren, PhD ’15 travels the globe helping the frozen aerated dessert industry develop new recipes and expand its market reach. She was previously an international consultant for Cold Stone Creamery. She and her former UW lab mate, Amy DeJong ’12, PhD’18, won the 25th season of TV’s The Amazing Race as the Sweet Scientists.
11 | Sau Lan Wu
Sau Lan Wu js a particle physicist renowned for her integral leadership and participation in the discoveries of the charm quark, the gluon, and the Higgs boson. She is the Enrico Fermi Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
12 | Estella Leopold
Estella Leopold ’48, pioneered the use of fossilized pollen and spores to understand how plants and ecosystems respond over eons to climate change and other phenomena. Her work at the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado made the case for their preservation, an achievement which led to Estella’s receipt of the prestigious International Cosmos Prize in 2010.