born April 17, 1925, New York, N.Y., U.S.
U.S. geneticist.
He received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He was part of the research team that first demonstrated that certain mutant genes produce inactive proteins. Later, working with E. coli , he showed that the sequence of the nitrogenous bases that form part of the structure of the genetic material corresponds to the amino acid sequence of proteins. Investigating the biochemical actions of suppressor mutations (changes in a gene that reverse the visible effects of mutation in a second gene), he found that suppression restored the ability to form an active enzyme in a mutant that had previously produced an inactive protein.