Oswald Avery

Oswald Theodore Avery Jr. (October 21, 1877 – February 20, 1955) was a Canadian-American physician and medical researcher, known for the Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize three times, but is famous for not winning the Nobel Prize.

Quotes

• In view of the fact that lobar pneumonia is prevalent in military camps in the United States, and that at present it is impossible to obtain white mice in sufficient numbers for carrying out the biologic tests necessary in the determination of types of pneumococcus, a rapid cultural method dispensing with the use of these animals is now proposed.
  • (January 5, 1918)"Determination of Types of Pneumococcus in Lobar Pneumonia". Journal of the American Medical Association 70: 17–19. DOI:10.1001/jama.1918.02600010015007.

• The reports of various observers indicate that great difference of opinion exists concerning the etiologic significance of B. influenza in the present epidemic of influenza. Some investigators have been able to isolate this organism from a large percentage of the cases that they have observed; others have succeeded in recovering it in very few instances. It is possible that technical difficulties in the isolation and growth of this microorganism may be in part responsible for the discordant results obtained in different laboratories.
  • (December 21, 1918)"A Selective Medium for B. Influenzae". Journal of the American Medical Association 71 (25): 2050–2051. DOI:10.1001/jama.1918.02600510018006.

Quotes about Oswald Avery

• At Colgate University he tied for first prize in an oratory contest with classmate Harry Emerson Fosdick ... Avery also played cornet well enough to have performed in concert with the National Conservatory of Music—a concert conducted by Antonin Dvořák—and he often drew ink caricatures and painted landscapes.
  • John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. Penguin. 4 October 2005. p. 156. ISBN 9780143036494. 

• None of Avery's former colleagues have been able to explain his extraordinary success in training young scientists. Even though his research group was never very large, a remarkable number of those who passed through his laboratory emerged as leaders in medical microbiology.
  • Maclyn McCarty, The Transforming Principle: Discovering That Genes Are Made of DNA. W. W. Norton & Company. 1986. p. 122. ISBN 9780393304503. 

External links

• Media related to Oswald Avery on Wikimedia Commons
• Encyclopedic article on Oswald Avery on Wikipedia