View source for Biography:André Michel Lwoff

{{Short description|French microbiologist}}
{{Infobox scientist
|image             =André Lwoff nobel.jpg
|image_size       =
|caption           = André Lwoff
|birth_date        = {{birth date|1902|5|8|df=y}}
|birth_place       = Ainay-le-Château, Allier, France
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1994|9|30|1902|5|8|df=y}}
|death_place       = Paris, France
|residence         =
|citizenship       =
|ethnicity         =
|field             = [[Biology:Microbiology|Microbiology]]
|work_institutions = {{Plainlist|
* [[Organization:University of Cambridge|University of Cambridge]]
* Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
* [[Organization:Pasteur Institute|Pasteur Institute]]
}}
|alma_mater        = [[Organization:Pasteur Institute|Pasteur Institute]]
|doctoral_advisor  =
|doctoral_students =
|known_for         = [[Biology:Provirus|Provirus]] infection of bacteria
|influences        =
|influenced        =
|prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* Foreign Member of the Royal Society  {{small|(1958)}}<ref name=rsobit/> 
* Nobel Prize in Medicine {{small|(1965)}} 
* National Academy of Sciences
*  [[Biology:Leeuwenhoek Medal|Leeuwenhoek Medal]] {{small|(1960)}}}}
|religion          =
|footnotes         =
|signature         =
|spouse=Marguerite Lwoff
}}

'''André Michel Lwoff''' (8 May 1902 – 30 September 1994)<ref name=rsobit>{{cite journal|last1=Jacob|first1=F.|last2=Girard|first2=M.|title=Andre Michel Lwoff. 8 May 1902-30 September 1994|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=44|year=1998|pages=255–263|issn=0080-4606|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1998.0017|pmid=11623983|doi-access=|s2cid=30313937 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Shafrir | first1 = E. 
| title = Jacques L. Monod, Francois J. Jacob and Andre M. Lwoff--introducers of new dimensions in cellular genetics and molecular biology 
| journal = Israel Journal of Medical Sciences 
| volume = 32 
| issue = 2 
| pages = 162 
| year = 1996 
| pmid = 8631654
}}</ref><ref name=nobel>{{Cite web | title = André Lwoff - Biography | work = Nobelprize.org | access-date = 2013-05-24 | date = 1965 | url = https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1965/lwoff-bio.html }}</ref> was a French [[Microbiologist|microbiologist]] and Nobel laureate of Russian-Polish origin.

==Education, early life and career==
Lwoff was born in Ainay-le-Château, Allier, in Auvergne, France, into a [[Religion:Jews|Jewish]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=André Lwoff, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965 |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Andr%C3%A9-Lwoff-Nobel-Prize-in-Physiology-or-Medicine-in-1965/6000000019059167074 |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=geni_family_tree |date=8 May 1902 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine |url=https://www.jinfo.org/Nobels_Medicine.html |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=www.jinfo.org}}</ref> family, the son of Marie (Siminovitch), an artist, and Solomon Lwoff, a psychiatrist.<ref name="nytobit" /> He joined the Institute Pasteur in Paris when he was 19 years old. In 1932, he finished his PhD and, with the help of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, moved with his wife and co-researcher Marguerite Lwoff to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research of Heidelberg to Otto Meyerhof, where he did research on the development of [[Biology:Flagellate|flagellate]]s. Another Rockefeller grant allowed him go to the [[Organization:University of Cambridge|University of Cambridge]] in 1937. In 1938, he was appointed departmental head at the Institut Pasteur, where he did groundbreaking research on [[Biology:Bacteriophage|bacteriophage]]s, [[Biology:Microbiota|microbiota]] and on the [[Biology:Poliovirus|poliovirus]]. 

==Awards and honors==
He was awarded numerous prizes from the French Académie des Sciences, the Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer, the [[Biology:Leeuwenhoek Medal|Leeuwenhoek Medal]] of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1960 and the Keilin Medal of the British [[Organization:Biochemical Society|Biochemical Society]] in 1964. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1965 for the discovery of the mechanism that some viruses (which he named [[Biology:Provirus|provirus]]es) use to infect [[Biology:Bacterium|bacteria]].<ref name=nytobit>{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | last = Sullivan | first = Walter | title = Andre Lwoff, 92, Biologist, Dies; Shared Nobel for Study of Cells | work = {{wipe|The New York Times}} | access-date = 2013-05-24 | date = 1994-10-04 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/04/obituaries/andre-lwoff-92-biologist-dies-shared-nobel-for-study-of-cells.html }}</ref> He was an elected member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andre Lwoff |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/45974.html |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Andre Michel Lwoff |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/andre-michel-lwoff |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Andr%C3%A9+Lwoff&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> Throughout his career he partnered with his wife Marguerite Lwoff although he gained considerably more recognition. Lwoff was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society  in 1958.<ref name=rsobit/> Lwoff was also president of the FEMS for a term of two years from 1974. The FEMS-Lwoff Award in microbiology is named in his honour. <ref>{{cite web |url = https://fems-microbiology.org/fems-activities/awards/fems-lwoff-award/|title = FEMS-Lwoff Award}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Lwoff was married to the microbiologist and virologist Marguerite Lwoff with whom he published many works. He was also a [[Philosophy:Humanism|humanist]] against [[Social:Capital punishment|capital punishment]].<ref>{{cite web|title=What history tells us III. André Lwoff: From protozoology to molecular definition of viruses|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jbsc/030/05/0591-0594|access-date=23 April 2017|author=Michel Morange|page=593|year=2005|quote=His culture was not limited to biology: André Lwoff was a humanist (Lwoff 1981).}}</ref>

== See also ==

* List of Jewish Nobel laureates

==References==
{{reflist|35em}}
==External links==
* {{Nobelprize|name=André Lwoff}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{1965 Nobel Prize winners}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Lwoff, Andre Michael}}
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]

{{Sourceattribution|André Michel Lwoff}}