23 Facts About Aaron Novick

Aaron Novick was an American molecular biologist, considered to be one of the founders of the field.

Aaron Novick started the University of Oregon's Institute of Molecular Biology, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, in 1959.

Aaron Novick later worked at its Los Alamos Laboratory, and witnessed the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945.

Aaron Novick was born in Toledo, Ohio, on June 24,1919, the son of Polish immigrants Sam and Rose Haring Novick.

Aaron Novick had two sisters, Esther and Mary, and a brother, Meyer.

Aaron Novick attended Woodward High School, where he played on the football team and was editor of the student newspaper.

Aaron Novick graduated in 1937, and was elected to its Hall of Fame in 1986.

Aaron Novick went to on complete his Doctor of Philosophy there, writing his two-part 1943 thesis on "A kinetic study of the chromic acid oxidation of isopropyl alcohol" and "The iodination of fibroin".

Aaron Novick was then transferred to the Project's Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, where he worked on the preparations for the Trinity nuclear test, witnessing the blast on July 16,1945.

Aaron Novick later expressed regret that he and his fellow scientists did not pay much attention to the moral and ethical issues of the use of nuclear weapons, as they were absorbed in the urgency and importance of their work, and fixated on the grim casualties lists in the newspapers.

In 1947, Aaron Novick became an associate professor at the University of Chicago.

Aaron Novick teamed up with Leo Szilard, with whom he had worked at the Metallurgical Laboratory during the war.

Aaron Novick married Jane Graham, a 1945 University of Chicago alumna, in Chicago on January 25,1948.

Aaron Novick left the University of Chicago in 1958 and moved to Eugene, Oregon, where he became director of the new Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon on January 1,1959.

Aaron Novick went for a model of an intellectual commune, where ideas could be aggressively shared between research groups.

Aaron Novick investigated the processes by which genes are switched on and off, demonstrating that when one is turned on, it causes synthesis of messenger RNA, while when one is turned off, a protein must bind to the gene.

Aaron Novick was posthumously awarded the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon's Pioneer Award.

For many years, Aaron Novick participated actively in the Atomic Scientists movement, and he served on the editorial board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Aaron Novick subsequently served as head of the Biology Department and as director of the Institute of Molecular Biology again.

Aaron Novick retired in 1984, but remained director on a part-time basis until he became a professor emeritus in 1990.

Aaron Novick died from pneumonia in Eugene on December 21,2000.

Aaron Novick was survived by his ex-wife and two sons.

Aaron Novick had been asked what he would like to have said about him at a memorial service.