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Dulbecco, Renato (Virologist)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1914 - 2012

Biographical/Historical

Background: Caltech Professor of Biology, 1952-1962; Senior Research Associate, 1949-1952.

Biographical/Historical

Description: Renato Dulbecco was born in Catanzaro in the Calabria region of Italy in 1914. He earned his MD degree at the University of Turin in 1936. At Turin he studied anatomy under Giuseppe Levi and became interested in histology and tissue culture. (Levi was also the mentor of two other Nobelists besides Dulbecco: Rita Levi-Montalcini and Salvador Luria. Dulbecco and Levi-Montalcini shared lab space.) After serving in the Italian army on the Russian front to 1943, he decided to become an active partisan (anti-Fascist), while working as both a doctor and a dentist. After the war, under Levi-Montalcini's influence, he studied physics, with a view to working on genes in viruses. A reacquaintance with Luria resulted in an invitation to the US. After three years at Indiana University, he came to Caltech as a Senior Research Associate to join Max Delbruck's phage group and was soon promoted to professor. At Caltech he succeeded in creating viral plaques (1952). Shortly thereafter Dulbecco was asked to apply his new technique to the study of the polio virus. Later he would extend his work to tumor viruses. Dulbecco's groundbreaking work on viruses was recognized in 1975 with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (shared with David Baltimore and Howard Temin). Dulbecco is the recipient of many other awards and honors. In 1962 he left Caltech to become director of the Salk Institute in La Jolla.

Biographical/Historical

Collection Notes: Oral history, 2001: A 68-page interview conducted by Shirley K. Cohen; covers early life and education in Italy; WWII and postwar experiences; emigration to the US in 1947; work with Luria and Watson at Indiana University; early DNA experiments; meeting with Delbruck and invitation to come to Caltech; association with Caltech (1949-1962); move to Salk Institute, La Jolla; continuing work on viruses; Nobel Prize 1975; presidency of Salk Institute, 1988-1992.

Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:

Biology Division 50th Anniversary Symposium

 Unprocessed Material
Identifier: 1995-00092

Dulbecco Photographs

 Unprocessed Material
Identifier: 1988-00291

Renato Dulbecco Oral History Interview with Shirley Cohen [sound recording], 1998-09-09 - 1998-09-10

 Item
Scope and Contents Interview in 1998 with Italian-American virologist Renato Dulbecco, who came to Caltech in 1949 as a senior research fellow at the invitation of Max Delbrück, joined the faculty of the Biology Division, and remained at Caltech until 1962. In this interview, he recalls his education at the University of Turin (MD 1936) in his native Italy, working with Giuseppe Levi and Rita Levi-Montalcini; his experiences during the war years in Italy; his arrival in the United States in 1947 to work with...
Dates: 1998-09-09 - 1998-09-10

Additional filters:

Type
Archival Object 3
Unprocessed Material 2
 
Subject
Biology 4
Photo Archive 1