SACRED LEGACY ARCHIVES™

Baruch Samuel Blumberg

1925-07-28 – 2011-04-05

A NASA portrait of Dr. Baruch Blumberg in 1999.Credit: Tom Trower (NASA)

Life & Legacy

Baruch Samuel Blumberg (July 28, 1925 – April 5, 2011), known as Barry Blumberg, was an American physician, geneticist, and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Daniel Carleton Gajdusek), for his work on the hepatitis B virus while an investigator at the NIH and at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. He was president of the American Philosophical Society from 2005 until his death.
Blumberg and Gajdusek received the Nobel Prize for discovering "new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases." Blumberg identified the hepatitis B virus, and later developed its diagnostic test and vaccine.

Occupation & Career

physician, anthropologist, virologist, university teacher, inventor, biochemist, geneticist

Education

Balliol College; Columbia University; Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons; Union College; Far Rockaway High School; Yeshivah of Flatbush

Accomplishments, Inventions & Publications

Canada Gairdner International Award; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; John Scott Award; National Inventors Hall of Fame; Croonian Medal and Lecture; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award; honorary doctorate from the University of Paris-VII; honorary doctorate

Legacy Highlights

Honors & Awards

Canada Gairdner International Award · Croonian Medal and Lecture · Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences · honorary doctorate · honorary doctorate from the University of Paris-VII · John Scott Award · Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award · National Inventors Hall of Fame · Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Employer

Balliol College · University of Pennsylvania

Organizations & Memberships

American Academy of Arts and Sciences · National Academy of Sciences · Romanian Academy

Education & Institutions

Balliol College · Columbia University · Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons · Far Rockaway High School · Union College · Yeshivah of Flatbush