Who discovered it?

Herbert Boyer and Stanley N. Cohen invented the direct transfer of DNA from one organism to another, which was an enrichment to the history of genetic engineering.

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Stanley Cohen (left) and Herbert Boyer pose during the Lemelson-MIT Prize ceremony, 1996

Boyer and Cohen met 1972 at a conference in Hawaii. A year later, they formed a partnership and worked on the development of recombinant DNA.

Herbert Boyer was born on the 10th of July 1936 in Pennsylvania.

In 1958, he graduated from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe and received his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry. Boyer also received his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburg in 1963. 1976, he became an assistant professor and Professor of Biochemistry at the University of California. In the same year and together with Robert A. Swanson, he also founded the company “Genentech” . Herbert Boyer retired in 1991.

Stanley Norman Cohen was born on February 17 1935 in New Jersey.

Cohen received his Doctor of Medicine after he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1960. Eight years later, he decided to become a professor and joined Stanford University. After that, Cohen became a professor of medicine and professor of genetics.

Paul Berg is famous for his work involving gene splicing of recombinant DNA. He assembled the first DNA molecules that combined genes from different organisms.

Paul Berg was born on the 30th of June 1926 in Brooklyn. He graduated from Penn State University in 1948 and received his Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry. Four years later, he received his Doctor of Philosophy from Case Western Reserve University. From 1955 to 1959 he worked as a professor at Washington University School of Medicine. Paul Berg decided to teach biochemistry at Stanford University and moved there in 1959. In 2000 he retired. Today Berg is still researching.

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Paul Berg

Received Awards