Hamilton O. Smith

@Microbiologists, Birthday and Family ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hamilton Othanel Smith is an American microbiologist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1978 American University Of California, Berkeley Scientists Biologists Microbiologists Leo Celebrities Hamilton Othanel Smith is a microbiologist from America who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1978. He shared the prize with two other microbiologists for the discovery of ‘restriction enzymes’ that could divide the DNA in a cell into smaller pieces so that its construction could be studied more easily. The other two microbiologists who shared the prize with him were Werner Arber from Switzerland and Daniel Nathans from America. The ‘restriction enzymes’ discovered by Smith was a new type of enzyme that could recognize a certain sequence of nucleotides in a DNA or ‘deoxyribonucleic acid’ molecule and could cut the molecule at that very point. This discovery laid the foundation for using ‘restriction enzymes’ as a tool in genetics and microbiology for studying the DNA of different kinds of biological systems in later experiments. Arber and other microbiologists had already found that one type of ‘restriction enzymes’ recognizes DNA sequences and cuts them up at random points but not at the point of recognition. Smith and his colleagues discovered the second type of ‘restriction enzymes’ while studying the ‘Haemophilus influenzae’ bacteria that not only recognizes a specific point of the DNA molecule but also cuts it exactly at the same point.

Personal Details

Birthday: August 23, 1931 Nationality: American Famous: University Of California, Berkeley, Scientists, Biologists, Microbiologists Spouses: Elizabeth Anne Bolton Known as: Hamilton Othanel Smith Universities: University Of California, Berkeley University of California Berkeley (BA) Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (MD) Notable Alumnis: University Of California Berkeley Information Detail Birthday August 23, 1931 Nationality American Famous University Of California, Berkeley, Scientists, Biologists, Microbiologists Spouses Elizabeth Anne Bolton Known as Hamilton Othanel Smith Universities University Of California, Berkeley University of California Berkeley (BA) Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (MD) Notable Alumnis University Of California Berkeley Birth Place New York City, New York Gender Male Father Bunnie Othanel Smith Mother Tommie Naomi Harkey Sun Sign Leo Born in New York City, New York Famous as Microbiologist

New York City, New York

Hamilton O. Smith born at Unsplash Birth Place

Hamilton O. Smith married Elizabeth Anne Bolton, a nursing student from Mexico City in 1956 after joining the JHU medical school where he met her. Unsplash Personal Life

He has four sons and a daughter from the marriage. Unsplash Personal Life

Daniel O. Smith was born on August 23, 1931 in New York, USA. His father, Bunnie Othanel Smith was an Assistant Professor of Education at the ‘University of Florida’ at Gainesville, and his mother, Tommie Naomi Harkey was a school teacher. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He has an elder brother named Norman. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Both his parents were from simple background. His father had taken leave from the university and had joined ‘Columbia University’ in New York City to pursue his doctoral studies when Hamilton was born. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois when his father joined the ‘Department of Education’ at the ‘University of Illinois’. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Smith spent his entire boyhood at Champagne-Urbana which was relatively detached from general affairs like the Great Depression and the World War II. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Hamilton O. Smith joined the Navy when he was drafted into the Armed Forces in July 1957 and completed a two year stint in San Diego, California. He developed interest for genetics during this time. Unsplash Career

In 1959 he moved to Detroit, Michigan with his wife and one-year old son and joined the ‘Henry Ford Hospital’ to complete his medical residency training. Here he found his calling when he came across books on ‘bacteriophage’ and molecular biology written by Mark Adams and others. Unsplash Career

After getting a N.I.H. postdoctoral fellowship, he joined the ‘Department of Human Genetics’ at the ‘University of Michigan’ at Ann Arbor in 1962 after his residency training. He started to work on the ‘Salmonella Phage P22 lysogeny’ with another geneticist, Mike. Unsplash Career

In 1965 they discovered the gene which controlled the prophage attachment and by 1967 Smith was able to publish his findings. Unsplash Career

He returned to ‘John Hopkins’ in 1967 where he joined the ‘Department of Microbiology’ as an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and has been there ever since. Unsplash Career

In 1970, Hamilton Smith published his first book ‘A restriction enzyme from Hemophilus Influenza. 1. Purification and general projects’ in collaboration with Kent W. Wilcox. Unsplash Major Work

His second book ‘A restriction enzyme from Hemophilus influenza. 11. Base sequence of the recognition site’ in collaboration with T. J. Kelly was published in 1970. Unsplash Major Work

His third and fourth books in collaboration with P. H. Roy titled ‘The DNA methylases of Hemophilus influenza Rd. 1. Purification and properties’, and ‘The DNA methylases of Hemophilus influenzae Rd. 11, Partial recognition site base sequences’, were published in 1973. Unsplash Major Work

Information	Detail
Birthday	August 23, 1931
Nationality	American
Famous	University Of California, Berkeley, Scientists, Biologists, Microbiologists
Spouses	Elizabeth Anne Bolton
Known as	Hamilton Othanel Smith
Universities	University Of California, Berkeley University of California Berkeley (BA) Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (MD)
Notable Alumnis	University Of California Berkeley
Birth Place	New York City, New York
Gender	Male
Father	Bunnie Othanel Smith
Mother	Tommie Naomi Harkey
Sun Sign	Leo
Born in	New York City, New York
Famous as	Microbiologist

Hamilton O. Smith

American

Aug 23, 1931

Biography

Personal Details

New York City, New York