Max Delbrück

Max Delbrück was a German-American biophysicist and geneticist who helped establish molecular biology through research on bacteriophages and shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Salvador Luria: Salvador Luria was an Italian-American microbiologist who studied bacteriophages and shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Luria collaborated with Delbrück on the fluctuation experiment demonstrating that bacterial mutations arise spontaneously.
Bacteriophage: A virus that infects bacteria and replicates using the host cell’s machinery. Phages were Delbrück’s principal experimental organisms and the focus of the research group he organized.
University of Göttingen: A German university where modern physics and mathematics flourished in the early twentieth century. Delbrück studied physics at Göttingen before turning toward biological problems.
Molecular biology: The study of biological processes through the molecules and interactions that underlie them. Delbrück’s phage work helped establish an experimental route from genetics to molecular mechanisms.
Alfred Hershey: Alfred Hershey was an American geneticist who studied bacteriophages and shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Hershey’s phage research formed the third part of the work recognized alongside Delbrück and Luria.
Phage life cycle: The sequence by which a bacteriophage attaches to a bacterium, replicates, and releases progeny or persists in its host. Delbrück analyzed phage reproduction quantitatively, including the rise and release of infectious particles.
Theoretical physics: The branch of physics that uses mathematical models to explain and predict physical phenomena. Delbrück’s training in theoretical physics shaped his quantitative approach to biological research.
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: An annual international prize recognizing discoveries in physiology or medicine. Delbrück shared the 1969 prize with Luria and Hershey for discoveries about virus replication and genetic structure.
Niels Bohr: Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist whose ideas about complementarity influenced discussions of biology and physics. Bohr’s call to consider biology’s relation to physics helped inspire Delbrück’s move into biology.
One-step growth experiment: A method that synchronizes infection to measure the timing and yield of virus replication. Delbrück used this approach to clarify the stages of bacteriophage multiplication.

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