44 Facts About Oswald Avery

The Nobel laureate Arne Tiselius said that Oswald Avery was the most deserving scientist not to receive the Nobel Prize for his work, though he was nominated for the award throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

Oswald Avery was a papermaker, and he was in charge of the papermaking at Oxford University.

Oswald Avery discovered a way to make thin paper that could be printed on both sides.

Oswald Avery married his wife, Elizabeth Crowdy, in 1870, and spent three years in England, where he would continue his pastoral service as a Baptist.

Oswald Avery remained as a pastor for 14 years in Halifax before traveling to the Mariner's Temple in New York City, where he would preach to a rowdy and poverty-stricken crowd.

Oswald Avery would die in 1892, leaving his wife Elizabeth Avery a widow.

Oswald Avery would continue to work with the Baptist City Mission Society, where she would come into association with a number of wealthy people, including the Sloans, the Vanderbilts, and the Rockefellers.

Oswald Avery had two siblings - an older brother Ernest and a younger brother Roy.

Oswald Avery eventually taught at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee.

Oswald Avery was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1877 to Francis Joseph Avery, a Baptist minister, and his wife Elizabeth Crowdy.

Oswald Avery was born and grew up in a small wooden row house on Moran Street in the North End of Halifax, now a designated heritage building.

When Oswald Avery was 10, his family moved to the Lower East Side of New York City.

Oswald Avery began participating in church activities at a young age.

Oswald Avery became talented enough to play with the National Academy of Music in Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No 5, From the New World, under direction of Walter Damrosch.

Oswald Avery received 8.5 out of 10 or above in all courses his freshman year and 9 out of 10 or above his sophomore through senior year.

Oswald Avery even tied for first with his friend Emerson in an oratorical contest.

Oswald Avery earned his undergraduate degree in humanities at Colgate University and was a member of the Class of 1900.

Oswald Avery began medical studies at The College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York later in the year of 1900.

Oswald Avery graduated with a medical degree in 1904, and then he began to practice general medicine.

Oswald Avery practiced medicine until 1907 when he began working as an associate director to Benjamin White in Hoagland Laboratory.

Oswald Avery recorded his findings in "Observations on Certain Lactic Acid Bacteria of the Bulgaricus Type".

Oswald Avery went with him to Trudea Sanatorium for a cure.

Oswald Avery became interested in tuberculosis and began doing research in the Trudea Laboratory, where he looked at the clinical and experimental aspects of tuberculosis.

At Hoagland, Oswald Avery performed a chemical and toxicological study of a product derived from tubercle bacilli.

Oswald Avery collaborated with Dr N B Potter for this chapter, which was put in Hare's Modern Treatment - a popular medical magazine at the time.

Oswald Avery did not accept the offer until Rufus Cole from Rockefeller came to offer the position to him in person.

Oswald Avery entered Rockefeller Institute as Assistant in 1913, and in 1915, he became an Associate.

Oswald Avery investigated distribution of different pneumococcus types in healthy individuals versus individuals with symptoms of pneumonia.

Oswald Avery wrote about the results of his findings in a 1915 paper called "Varieties of Pneumococcus and Their Relation to Lobar Pneumonia".

Oswald Avery suggested pneumococci strains that produced more severe symptoms had higher virulence than strains that cause less severe symptoms.

Oswald Avery processed the serum and measured its antipneumococcal activity.

Oswald Avery concentrated the serum so that a minimal amount of foreign protein was needed in it.

Oswald Avery wrote the monograph, Acute Lobar Pneumonia: Prevention and Serum Treatment, that was published by The Institute explaining this improvement.

Oswald Avery helped Dochez in his research on specific soluble substances found in the blood and urine of pneumonia patients.

Oswald Avery published papers on specific soluble substance findings between 1923 and 1929, along with an additional paper he published with Goebel in 1933.

Oswald Avery worked with Goebel until 1934, and then Gobel continued their work upon his cessation.

Later, Oswald Avery concluded that a protein determines the specificity of Diplococcus pneumoniae after he observed that the active protein was the same for all pneumococcal strains but different than that of other bacteria.

Oswald Avery became an emeritus member of The Institute when he retired in 1943.

Oswald Avery identified R and S strains of the bacterium; the latter caused disease and had a polysaccharide capsule, while the former lacked the capsule and was harmless.

Oswald Avery had received emeritus status from the Rockefeller Institute in 1943, but continued working for five years, though by that time he was in his late sixties.

Oswald Avery hypothesized that if the live R-strain bacteria did not transform into S-strain bacteria, then the missing substance contained genetic information and was the "transforming principle".

Dr Morgan was given a research grant from the Department of Defense to study immunity to streptococcal infection, and he convinced Oswald Avery to help him in his research.

Oswald Avery died at age 77 on February 20,1955, and was buried in Mount Olivet cemetery in Nashville.

The collected papers of Oswald Avery are stored at the Tennessee State Library and Archives and at the Rockefeller Archive.