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Table of Contents

Biography

AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjects

Relationships

PeopleInstitutions

Resources

Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as Subject

Max Delbrück

Photo

Dates

November 4, 1906 – March 9, 1981

Authorized Form of Name

Delbrück, Max

Additional Forms of Names

Delbrück, Max, 1906-1981

Biography

Abstract

Max Delbrück was a Professor Emeritus of Biology at the California Institute of Technology (1945-1981). Other institutional affiliations include Vanderbilt University and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry. His research interests spanned physics and biology.

Important Dates

November 4, 1906Birth, Berlin (Germany).

1930Obtained PhD in Physics, University of Göttingen, Göttingen (Germany).

1930 – 1932Rockefeller Fellow, University of Copenhagen and University of Zurich.

1932 – 1937Assistant, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry (Kaiser Wilhelm Institut fur Chemie), Berlin (Germany).

1937 – 1939Rockefeller Fellow, California Institute of Technology.

1940 – 1945Instructor in Physics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Tenn.).

1945 – 1981Assistant Profesor to Associate Professor (1945-1947); Professor (1947-1957); Albert Billings Ruddock Professor (1957-1976); and Emeritus Professor (1976-1981), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (Calif.).

1949Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1969Awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Alfred D. Hershey and Salvador E. Luria "for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses".

March 9, 1981Death, Pasadena (Calif.).

Occupation

Biophysicist.

Places

Birth

Berlin (Germany)

Graduate Education

Göttingen (Germany)

Employment

Berlin (Germany)

Nashville (Tenn.)

Pasadena (Calif.)

Death

Pasadena (Calif.)

Subjects

Astrophysics.

Biophysics.

Genetics.

Virology.

Relationships

People

Advisors & Collaborators

Bohr, Niels, 1885-1962

PhD advisor at University of Copenhagen (Københavns universitet).

Born, Max, 1882-1970

PhD advisor at University of Göttingen.

Hershey, A. D. (Alfred Day), 1908-

Shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Salvador Luria "for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses."

Luria, S. E. (Salvador Edward), 1912-1991

Shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Alfred Hershey "for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses."

Pauli, Wolfgang, 1900-1958

Advisor at Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.

Stanley, H. Eugene (Harry Eugene), 1941-

Advised by Delbrück at University of Cologne.

Colleagues

Brown, Harold, 1927-2019

Both employed at California Institute of Technology.

Christy, Robert F.

Both employed at California Institute of Technology.

DuBridge, Lee A. (Lee Alvin), 1901-1994

Both employed at California Institute of Technology.

Goldberger, Marvin L.

Both employed at California Institute of Technology.

Hopfield, John J.

Both employed at California Institute of Technology.

Tolman, Richard C. (Richard Chace), 1881-1948

Both employed at California Institute of Technology.

Additional

Anderson, Thomas Foxen, 1911-1991

Benzer, Seymour

Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955

Ellis, Emory L., 1906-2003

Gamow, George, 1904-1968

Gentner, Wolfgang, 1906-1980

Heisenberg, Werner, 1901-1976

Meitner, Lise, 1878-1968

Moller, C. (Christian), 1904-1980

Pauling, Linus, 1901-1994

Peierls, Rudolf E. (Rudolf Ernst), 1907-1995

Uhlenbeck, George Eugène, 1900-1988

Weisskopf, Victor Frederick, 1908-2002

Weizsacker, Carl Friedrich, Freiherr von, 1912-2007

Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008

Institutions

Major Positions

California Institute of Technology. Division of Biology

Rockefeller Fellow; Assistant Professor to Associate Professor; Professor; Albert Billings Ruddock Professor; Emeritus Professor.

Kaiser Wilhelm Institut fur Chemie

Assistant.

Vanderbilt University. Department of Physics and Astronomy

Instructor.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

Københavns universitet

Rockefeller Fellow.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

Universität Göttingen

Obtained PhD (Physics).

Universitat Zurich

Rockefeller Fellow.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Faust, eine Historie, 1932.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Max Delbruck papers, 1918-1997 (bulk 1930-1980).

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Subject

Christian Møller papers, 1928-1980.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

Emory L. Ellis papers, 1925-1993.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

J. Craig Venter Institute history of molecular biology collection, 1909-2000.

Archives

J. Craig Venter Institute

4120 Capricorn Lane, La Jolla, CA 92037

Lee A. DuBridge papers, 1932-1986.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Max Delbrück and the new perception of biology, 1906-1981 : centenary celebration, University of Salamanca, October 9-10, 2006

Niels Bohn Scientific correspondence [microform], 1907-1962.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Niels Bohr collection of manuscripts by other authors, 1910-1961.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

Niels Bohr scientific correspondence, 1903-1962.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

Niels Bohr scientific correspondence, supplement, 1910-1962.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

Oral history interview with Carl Friedrich Weizsacker, 1986 January 28.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with George Eugene Uhlenbeck, 1962 March 30, 31, April 5, May 10 and 1963 December 9.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with George Gamow, 1968 April 25 and 26.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with John Archibald Wheeler, 1967 April 5.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with John Archibald Wheeler, 1988 May 4, May 23 and November 28.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Linus Pauling, 1984 May 10.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

120 St. George St., Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A5, Canada

Oral history interview with Seymour Benzer, 1990-1991.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Oral history interview with Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, 1963 June 17 and 18.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Wolfgang Gentner, 1971 November 15.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Thomas Foxen Anderson papers, 1928-1989.

Victor Weisskopf: My life as a physicist, circa 1971.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Wolfgang Pauli letters.

Bibliothek

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich

ETH Zentrum, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland

Published Resources

Author

Creating a physical biology : the Three-Man Paper and early molecular biology

Der Aufbau der Atomkerne : natürliche und künstliche Kernunwandlungen

Mind from matter? : an essay on evolutionary epistemology

Subject

Max Delbrück Physics Today obituary.

""Escherichia coli" as a model system with which to study cell differentiation," History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 18 (1996): 163-193

"Bohr, Delbrück, Pauli, and Biology," in Essays in honour of Kalvero Vihtori Laurikainen (Helsinki : Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia: 1985), 23-32

"Bringing Physics to Bear on the Phenomenon of Life: The Divergent Positions of Bohr, Delbrück, and Schrödinger," Studies in the History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences 37 (2006): 433-458

"Conceptual Models and Analytical Tools: The Biology of Physicist Max Delbrück," Journal of the History of Biology 18 (1985): 207-246

"Die Arbeit von Max Delbrück und die Entstehung der Molekulargenetik: Einige Weltanschaulich-Philosophische und Wissenschaftshistorische Probleme," Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin 32 (1983): 331-337

"Il Principio di Complementarità di Niels Bohr ed il Suo Presunto Superamento nella Biologia Molecolare: Alcuni Nodi Non Risolti," Atti dell'Accademia di scienze morali e politiche di Napoli 114 (2004): 207-248

"Max Delbrück and the Birth of Molecular Biology," Social Research 32 (1984): 641-673

"Max Delbrück: A Physicist in Biology," in Essays in honour of Kalvero Vihtori Laurikainen, ed. William R. Woodward and Robert S. Cohen (Dordrecht : Kluwer: 1991), 415-422

"Max Delbrück: Begründer der Phagengenetik," Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin 39 (1990): 251-256

"Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück: 1906-1981", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences

"Quanta of Life: Atomic Physics and the Reincarnation of the Phage," History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 14 (1992): 3-21

"The Application of Complementarity to Biology: From Niels Bohr to Max Delbrück," Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 30 (2000): 417-442

"The Controversy between John H. Northrop and Max Delbrück on the Formation of Bacteriophage: Bacterial Synthesis or Autonomous Multiplication?," Annals of Science 49 (1992): 545-575

"The Influence of Niels Bohr on Max Delbrück: Revisiting the Hopes Inspired by "Light and Life"," Isis 96 (2005): 507-529

"The Paradox of the Phage Group: Essay Review," Journal of the History of Biology 43 (2010): 183-193

"The Secret of Life: Niels Bohr's Influence on the Biology Program of Max Delbrück," Rivista di Storia della Scienza 2 (1985): 487-510

Licht und Leben: Ein Bericht über Max Delbrück, den Wegbereiter der Molekularbiologie (Konstanz: Universitätsverlag, 1985)

Max Delbrück and Cologne : An Early Chapter of German Molecular Biology (Hackensack: World Scientific, 2007)

Ordinary geniuses : Max Delbrück, George Gamow, and the origins of genomics and big bang cosmology

Phage and the origins of molecular biology : [essays]

Thinking about science : Max Delbrück and the origins of molecular biology

Thinking about Science: Max Delbrück and the Origins of Molecular Biology (New York : Norton, 1988)