Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Kornberg, R.; Kornberg, A.
"DNA Replication", by Arthur Kornberg, W. H. Freeman & Co., 1974.
"DNA Synthesis", by Arthur Kornberg, W. H. Freeman & Co., 1974.
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Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg was for many years a close friend to the Kornberg family
including Arthur, Sylvy, and Roger. Esther felt it was an honour to know Arthur
Kornberg and was proud of the achievements of Roger, whom she knew since he was
eight years old.
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Arthur Kornberg (1918-2007) won the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
for his discovery of the first DNA polymerase, establishing that DNA synthesis
is a template-driven process. He succeeded in recreating an infectious bacteriophage
chromosome with purified enzyme substrates and co-factors, enabling his laboratory
to reconstitute bacterial chromosome replication in vitro. Arthur Kornberg
also wrote a number of influential books, including "DNA Replication". In addition
to the Nobel Prize, Arthur Kornberg was a recipient of the National Medal of Science,
the Cosmos Club Award and the Gairdner Foundation Award. Arthur Kornberg was
President of the American Society of Biological Chemists, a member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and was a member of
the British Royal Society. He was also a founder of the DNAX Research Institute of
Molecular and Cellular Biology.
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Dr. Julius Adler co-authored several papers with Dr. Arthur Kornberg. An extensive
scientific correspondence exists between Dr. Julius Adler and Dr. Esther M. Zimmer
Lederberg, which may be found in this website.
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Dr. Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg related the story about the trip across the United
States with her then-husband Josh Lederberg. It was Josh's objective to meet and speak
with as many of the major geneticists of the day, as possible. If a geneticist had not
made a sufficiently important discovery, he would not be of interest to Josh. It is
very apropos that in a 1997 interview with Sally Smith Hughes, Arthur Kornberg (referring
to Josh Lederberg) stated: "Lederberg really wanted to join my department. I knew him; he's
a genius, but he'd be unable to focus and to operate within a small family group like ours,
and so, I was instrumental in establishing a department of genetics [at Stanford] of which
he would be chairman."
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Perhaps the views of Dr. Arthur Kornberg were not representative? The folowing appears in
"A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock", by Evelyn Fox
Keller, W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1983, p. 142:
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"She [Barbara McClintock] withdrew further into her work, protected more and more by her
'inner knowledge' that she was on the 'right track,' but at the same time becoming
increasingly wary about confronting potentially hostile audiences, and even about visits
from unsympathetic colleagues. Her lab remained open to anyone who genuinely wanted to
listen or even just talk, but she had always had a quick sharp tongue and now used it to
protect herself whenever she felt the need. Lotte Auerbach, an animal geneticist from
the University of Edinburgh, was one of those who wanted to listen. She found McClintock
surprisingly patient and clear. In the space of a single afternoon McClintock was able
to explain her work in sufficient detail to leave Auerbach not only convinced, but
enourmously impressed—and enthusiastic enough to try (unsuccessfully as it
turned out) to convince others upon her return to Europe. But Auerbach also remembers
Joshua Lederberg returning from a visit to McClintock's lab with the remark: 'By God,
that woman is either crazy or a genius.' As Auerbach tells it, McClintock had thrown
Lederberg and his colleagues out after half an hour 'because of their arrogance. She was
intolerant of arrogance....She felt she had crossed a desert alone and no one had
followed her.'"
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Roger Kornberg: crystallographer, structural chemist and geneticist. Roger Kornberg
was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in understanding how DNA is
converted into RNA (transcription).
