Scientist of the day - John Franklin Enders

John Franklin Enders 

Famous As: The Father Of Modern Vaccines

Nationality: American

Birth Date: February 10, 1897

Died On: September 8, 1985

The Father of modern vaccines, John Franklin Enders was an America virologist and microbiologist who casted an important influence on the field of science through his revolutionary research and discoveries. A leader in modern virology, Enders is credited for cultivating the polio-virus in tissue cultures of human cells which led to the development of an attenuated live vaccine for polio. However, this isn’t all that Enders achieved in his career. Enders isolated the measles virus and in turn developed the measles vaccine that successfully put an end to the disease. Interestingly, upon reading the achievements, one tends to believe that Enders tryst with science started early. However, it is quite amazing to find out that Enders did not opt for science until quite late in his life. He was in fact enrolled for a literature course at Harvard when he befriended some medical students who rekindled Enders’ interest in biology and medicine. He then decided to enter as a candidate for the Ph.D. degree in bacteriology and immunology. Upon receiving his doctorate degree, Enders started his research program. In 1953, he jointly received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for culturing the poliovirus. Later in his career, he isolated measles virus and developed measles vaccine as well.

John Franklin Enders was born in an affluent family, on February 10, 1897, in West Hartford, Connecticut, to John Ostrom Enders and Harriet Goulden Enders. His father was the 

CEO of the Hartford National Bank and left Enders $19 million upon his death.

Major Works:

Enders’ contribution in the field of virology and immunology has been immense. He is credited with cultivating the poliomyelitis virus in non-nervous tissue cultures, which served as a preliminary step to the development of the polio vaccine in 1953 by Dr Jonas Salk. Other important contribution made by him was isolating measles virus and in turn developing the measles vaccine.

Awards & Achievements:

In 1954, Enders, along with his fellow researchers Robbins and Weller, received the prestigious

 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the ability of the polio viruses to 

grow in culture of various types of tissues.

In 1955, Enders received the Kyle Award from US Public Health Service.

Enders was felicitated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Science Achievements 

Award from the American Medical Association in 1963.

In 1967, he became a foreign member of the Royal Society of London.

Personal Life & Legacy:

John Franklin Enders tied the nuptial knot with Sarah Frances Bennett in 1927. 

The couple was blessed with two children, John Ostrom Enders II and Sarah Enders.

After the death of his wife in 1943, Enders married Carolyn B. Keane of 

Newton Center, Massachusetts. From her, he had a son William Edmund Keane.

Enders breathed his last on September 8, 1985, in Waterford, Connecticut, at the age of 88.

Scientist of the day: Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin

Famous As: Biophysicist & Physiologist

Nationality: British

Birth Date: February 5, 1914

Died At Age: 84

Sun Sign: Aquarius

Born In: Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Father: George Hodgkin

Mother: Mary Wilson

Spouse/Partner: Marion Rous

Children: Sarah, Deborah, Jonathan, Rachel

Died On: December 20, 1998

Place Of Death: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was an English biophysicist and a physiologist who received the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Sir John Eccles and Andrew Fielding Huxley for discovering the chemical processes which controlled the transmission of electrical impulses from one nerve cell in the brain to another though nerve fibers. He and his fellow scientists introduced microelectrodes into the giant nerve fibers of a squid and showed that the electrical potential of a nerve fiber transmitting an impulse is higher than a nerve fiber which remains at rest. This discovery was in contradiction to the earlier hypothesis that nerve membranes break down when an impulse was transmitted. This theory formulated by Hodgkin and Huxley is known as the ‘voltage clamp’. They found that a large amount of potassium ions is concentrated inside a nerve fiber while the solution which surrounds the fibers has a large concentration of sodium ions. They proved with the help of experiments that nerve fibers allow only potassium ions to pass through the membrane when they are at rest while only sodium ions are allowed passage when the fibers are excited. The continuous sequence of depolarization that occurs to the nerve cell membranes discovered by him is known as the ‘Hodgkin Cycle’.

Childhood & Early Life

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England on February 5, 1914 to 

George Hodgkin and Mary Wilson.

When his father died of dysentery in 1918 in Baghdad, his mother re-married Lionel Smith.

 They lived with him thereafter.

He studied at the ‘The Downs School, Malvern’ from 1923 to 1927 and later at the

 ‘Gresham’s School, Holt’ from 1927 to 1932.

He joined the Trinity College affiliated to the Cambridge University in 1932 and studied there

 till 1936.

Major Works

• Sir Alan Hodgkin’s writings include the book titled ‘Conduction of the Nervous Impulse’
  
• which was published in 1964.
• He published his autobiography titled ‘Chance and Design: Reminiscences of Science in
  
• Peace and War’ in 1992.

Awards & Achievements

• Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was awarded the ‘Royal Medal of the Royal Society’ in 1958.
  
• He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963.
  
• He was made a ‘Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences’ in 1964.
  
• He received the ‘Copley Medal of the Royal Society’ in 1965.
  
• He was made a ‘Knight of the British Empire’ and received his knighthood in 1972
  
• He was also awarded the ‘Order of Merit’ in 1973.

Personal Life and Legacy

• While working at the Rockfeller Institute, he met Marion Rous, daughter of the
  
• famous pathologist Peyton Rous, and married her in 1944.
• 
  
• He had a son, Jonathan, after two daughters, Sarah and Deborah, and then the
  
• youngest daughter, Rachel, from this marriage.
• Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin died in Cambridge, England on December 20, 1998.