The Rockefeller University is a private
universityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates. The Rockefeller University is located on the
Upper East SideThe Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
of
ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, between 63rd and 68th Streets along York Avenue.
Marc Tessier-LavigneMarc Trevor Tessier-Lavigne is a Canadian-American neuroscientist who is president of The Rockefeller University in New York City. He was formerly executive vice president for research and the chief scientific officer at Genentech. Tessier-Lavigne succeeded Nobel laureate Paul Nurse...
—previously executive vice president of research and chief scientific officer at
GenentechGenentech Inc., or Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a biotechnology corporation, founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. Trailing the founding of Cetus by five years, it was an important step in the evolution of the biotechnology industry...
—is the university's tenth president.
The
Rockefeller University PressThe Rockefeller University Press is a department of The Rockefeller University. It publishes three scientific journals: The Journal of Experimental Medicine, founded in 1896, The Journal of General Physiology, founded in 1918, and The Journal of Cell Biology, founded in 1955 under the title The...
publishes the
Journal of Experimental MedicineThe Journal of Experimental Medicine is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Rockefeller University Press that publishes research papers and commentaries on the physiological, pathological, and molecular mechanisms that encompass the host response to disease...
, the
Journal of Cell BiologyThe Journal of Cell Biology is an international, peer-reviewed journal owned by The Rockefeller University and published by The Rockefeller University Press.- History :...
, and
The Journal of General PhysiologyThe Journal of General Physiology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Rockefeller University Press. The journal covers biological, chemical, or physical mechanisms of broad physiological significance. The major emphasis is on physiological problems at the cellular and molecular...
.
History
What is now The Rockefeller University was founded in June 1901 as
The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research—often called simply
The Rockefeller Institute—by
John D. RockefellerJohn Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
, who had founded the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1889, upon advice by his adviser Frederick T. Gates and action taken in March 1901 by his son,
John D. Rockeller JrJohn Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son among the five children of businessman and Standard Oil industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the father of the five famous Rockefeller brothers...
. Greatly elevating the prestige of American science and medicine, it was America's first biomedical institute, alike France's
Pasteur InstituteThe Pasteur Institute is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who made some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern medicine at the time, including pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax...
(1888) and Germany's
Robert Koch InstituteThe Robert Koch Institute is the German federal institution responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode and is part of the Federal Ministry of Health.-History:...
(1891).
(The Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropic organization, founded in 1913, is a separate entity, but had close connections mediated by prominent figures holding dual positions.)
The first director of laboratories was
Simon FlexnerSimon Flexner, M.D. was a physician, scientist, administrator, and professor of experimental pathology at the University of Pennsylvania . He was the first director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research and a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation...
, former
Johns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
student of the Institute's first scientific director,
William H. WelchWilliam Henry Welch, M.D. was an American physician, pathologist, and medical school administrator. He was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at Johns Hopkins Hospital. William Henry Welch, M.D. (April 8, 1850 - April 30, 1934) was an American physician, pathologist, and medical school...
, first dean of Hopkins' medical school and known as the dean of American medicine. Flexner retired in 1935 and was suceeded by Herbert Gasser, succeeded in 1953 by
Detlev BronkDetlev Wulf Bronk was President of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland from 1949 to 1953 and President of the National Academy of Sciences from 1950 to 1962. Bronk is credited with reshaping the postwar university environment at Hopkins...
who broadened The Rockefeller Institute into a university that began awarding the PhD degree in 1954. In 1965 The Rockefeller Institute's name was changed to The Rockefeller University.
For its first six decades the Institute focused on
basic researchBasic Research is an herbal supplement and cosmetics manufacturer based in Salt Lake City, Utah that distributes products through a large number of subsidiaries. In addition, their products are sold domestically and internationally through a number of high-end retailers. Dennis Gay is the...
to develop basic science, on
applied researchApplied research is a form of systematic inquiry involving the practical application of science. It accesses and uses some part of the research communities' accumulated theories, knowledge, methods, and techniques, for a specific, often state, business, or client driven purpose...
as
biomedical engineeringBiomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve...
, and, since 1910—when The Rockefeller Hospital opened on its campus as America's first facility for
clinical researchClinical research is a branch of medical science that determines the safety and effectiveness of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use...
—on clinical science. The Rockefeller Hospital's first director, Rufus Cole, retired in 1937 and was succeeded by
Thomas Milton RiversThomas Milton Rivers was an American bacteriologist and virologist. The "father of modern virology."- Life :...
, who as director of The Rockefeller Institute's virology laboratory established
virologyVirology is the study of viruses and virus-like agents: their structure, classification and evolution, their ways to infect and exploit cells for virus reproduction, the diseases they cause, the techniques to isolate and culture them, and their use in research and therapy...
as an independent field apart from
bacteriologyBacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
.
Research breakthroughs
Rockefeller researchers were the first to culture the infectious agent associated with syphilis, showed that viruses can be oncogenic and enabled the field
tumor biology, developed
tissue culture techniques, developed the practice of
travel vaccination, identified the phenomenon of
autoimmune diseaseAutoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body actually attacks its own cells. The immune system mistakes some part of the body as a pathogen and attacks it. This may be restricted to...
, developed virology as an independent field, developed the
first antibioticGramicidin is a heterogeneous mixture of six antibiotic compounds, gramicidins A, B and C, making up 80%, 6%,and 14% respectively, all of which are obtained from the soil bacterial species Bacillus brevis and called collectively gramicidin D. Gramicidin D are linear pentadecapeptides; that is...
, obtained the first American isolation of influenzavirus A and first isolation of influenzavirus B, showed that genes are structurally composed of DNA, discovered blood groups, resolved that virus particles are protein crystals, helped develop the field
cell biology, resolved antibody structure, developed
methadoneMethadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients with opioid dependency. It was developed in Germany in 1937...
treatment of heroin addiction, devised the
AIDS drug cocktailAntiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or HAART...
, and identified the appetite-regulating hormone
leptinLeptin is a 16 kDa protein hormone that plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure, including appetite and metabolism. It is one of the most important adipose derived hormones...
.
Notable individuals
Notable figures to emerge from the Institution include
Alexis CarrelAlexis Carrel was a French surgeon and biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for pioneering vascular suturing techniques. He invented the first perfusion pump with Charles A. Lindbergh opening the way to organ transplantation...
, Peyton Rous,
Hideyo Noguchi, also known as , was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who discovered the agent of syphilis as the cause of progressive paralytic disease in 1911.-Early life:...
,
Thomas Milton RiversThomas Milton Rivers was an American bacteriologist and virologist. The "father of modern virology."- Life :...
,
Richard ShopeRichard Shope was an American virologist who was first to isolate an influenza virus and first to vaccinate animals against influenza. In the 1930s, Shope, a physician at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, identified the causative agent as a virus in the 1918-19 Spanish influenza...
, Thomas Francis Jr, Oswald T. Avery, Cornelius P. Rhoads,
Wendell Meredith StanleyWendell Meredith Stanley was an American biochemist, virologist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Stanley was born in Ridgeville, Indiana, and earned a BS in Chemistry at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. He then studied at the University of Illinois, gaining an MS in science in 1927 followed by...
, and
René DubosRené Jules Dubos was a French-born American microbiologist, experimental pathologist, environmentalist, humanist, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book So Human An Animal. He is credited as an author of a maxim "Think globally, act locally"...
. Others attained eminence before being drawn to the university.
Joshua LederbergJoshua Lederberg ForMemRS was an American molecular biologist known for his work in microbial genetics, artificial intelligence, and the United States space program. He was just 33 years old when he won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that bacteria can mate and...
, who won the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
in 1958, served as president of the university from 1978 to 1990.
Paul NurseSir Paul Maxime Nurse, PRS is a British geneticist and cell biologist. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland H. Hartwell and R...
, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001, became President in 2003. (Before Nurse's tenure, Thomas Sakmar was acting-president from 2002.) In all, 24
Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
recipients have been associated with the University. In the mid-1970s, the University attracted a few prominent academicians in the humanities, such as
Saul KripkeSaul Aaron Kripke is an American philosopher and logician. He is a professor emeritus at Princeton and teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center...
.
The
Rockefeller familyThe Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
has maintained links with the institution;
David RockefellerDavid Rockefeller, Sr. is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were...
is the Honorary Chairman and a Life Trustee.
At a glance
Fostering an interdisciplinary atmosphere among its 72 laboratories, a faculty member is assigned to one of only six interconnecting research areas.
Research areas
- biochemistry, structural biology, chemistry
- molecular cell & developmental biology
- medical sciences & human genetics
- immunology, virology, microbiology
- physics & mathematical biology
- neuroscience
University community
- Over 70 heads of laboratories
- 190 research and clinical scientists
- 360 postdoctoral investigators
- 1,000 support staff
- 150 Ph.D. students
- 50 M.D.-Ph.D. students
- 890 alumni
Faculty who have received the Nobel Prize
- 2011 Ralph Steinman
- 2003 Roderick MacKinnon
Roderick MacKinnon is a professor of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics at Rockefeller University who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Peter Agre in 2003 for his work on the structure and operation of ion channels....
- 2001 Paul Nurse
Sir Paul Maxime Nurse, PRS is a British geneticist and cell biologist. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland H. Hartwell and R...
- 2000 Paul Greengard
Paul Greengard is an American neuroscientist best known for his work on the molecular and cellular function of neurons. In 2000, Greengard, Arvid Carlsson and Eric Kandel were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous...
- 1999 Günter Blobel
-Biography:Blobel was born in Waltersdorf in the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia. In January 1945 his family fled from native Silesia from the advancing Red Army. On their way to the West they passed through the beautiful old city of Dresden, which left deep impressions in the young boy...
- 1984 R. Bruce Merrifield
Robert Bruce Merrifield was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1984 for the invention of solid phase peptide synthesis.-Early life:...
- 1981 Torsten Wiesel
Torsten Nils Wiesel was a Swedish co-recipient with David H. Hubel of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system; the prize was shared with Roger W...
- 1975 David Baltimore
David Baltimore is an American biologist, university administrator, and Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He served as president of the California Institute of Technology from 1997 to 2006, and is currently the Robert A. Millikan Professor of Biology at Caltech...
- 1974 Albert Claude
Albert Claude was a Belgian biologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 with Christian de Duve and George Emil Palade. He studied engineering, and then medicine...
- 1974 Christian de Duve
Christian René, viscount de Duve is a Nobel Prize-winning cytologist and biochemist. De Duve was born in Thames Ditton, Surrey, Great Britain, as a son of Belgian refugees. They returned to Belgium in 1920...
- 1974 George E. Palade
- 1972 Stanford Moore
Stanford Moore was a U.S. biochemist. He shared a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1972 Stanford Moore (September 4, 1913 – August 23, 1982) was a U.S. biochemist. He shared a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1972 Stanford Moore (September 4, 1913 – August 23, 1982) was a U.S. biochemist. He...
- 1972 William H. Stein
- 1972 Gerald M. Edelman
- 1967 H. Keffer Hartline
Haldan Keffer Hartline was an American physiologist who was a co-winner of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in analyzing the neurophysiological mechanisms of vision.Hartline began his study of retinal electrophysiology as a National Research Council Fellow at Johns...
- 1966 Peyton Rous
- 1958 Joshua Lederberg
Joshua Lederberg ForMemRS was an American molecular biologist known for his work in microbial genetics, artificial intelligence, and the United States space program. He was just 33 years old when he won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that bacteria can mate and...
- 1958 Edward L. Tatum
- 1953 Fritz Lipmann
- 1946 John H. Northrop
- 1946 Wendell M. Stanley
- 1944 Herbert S. Gasser
- 1930 Karl Landsteiner
Karl Landsteiner , was an Austrian-born American biologist and physician of Jewish origin. He is noted for having first distinguished the main blood groups in 1900, having developed the modern system of classification of blood groups from his identification of the presence of agglutinins in the...
- 1912 Alexis Carrel
Alexis Carrel was a French surgeon and biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for pioneering vascular suturing techniques. He invented the first perfusion pump with Charles A. Lindbergh opening the way to organ transplantation...
Prominent alumni
- David Albert
David Z Albert, Ph.D., is Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy and Director of the M.A. Program in The Philosophical Foundations of Physics at Columbia University in New York. He received his B.S. in physics from Columbia College and his doctorate in theoretical physics from The...
- David Baltimore
David Baltimore is an American biologist, university administrator, and Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He served as president of the California Institute of Technology from 1997 to 2006, and is currently the Robert A. Millikan Professor of Biology at Caltech...
, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine in 1975 for the discovery of reverse transcriptase. Has served as president of both The Rockefeller University and the California Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
.
- Michael Bratman
Michael E Bratman is Durfee Professor in the School of Humanities & Sciences and Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. His interests include philosophy of action and moral philosophy. His work in those areas led him to the Belief-Desire-Intention model that is used in many areas,...
, Durfee Professor of philosophy at Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
- Barbara Ehrenreich
-Early life:Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Howes Alexander in Butte, Montana, which she describes as then being "a bustling, brawling, blue collar mining town."...
, social commentator and author of the 2001 book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America.
- Jonathan Lear
Jonathan Lear is the John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago.-Biography:...
, the John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, who specializes in Aristotle and psychoanalysis.
- Seth Lloyd
Seth Lloyd is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He refers to himself as a "quantum mechanic"....
- Robert Sapolsky
Robert Maurice Sapolsky is an American scientist and author. He is currently Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences and, by courtesy, Neurosurgery, at Stanford University. In addition, he is a Research Associate at the National Museums of...
, Stanford Professor, MacArthur Grant recipient, and writer of numerous books on stress and natural history.
- Amos Smith
Amos B. Smith III is an American chemist.He is most notable for his research with the chemistry of mammalian pheromones and chemical communication....
, Rhodes-Thompson professor of chemistry at the University of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
- Richard Wolfenden
Richard Wolfenden is an Alumni Distinguished Professor of chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2002...
, professor of chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
External links