Background

Alfred Ezra Mirsky was born on October 17, 1900, in Flushing, Queens, in New York City, to Michael David Mirsky, a businessman who manufactured nurses' uniforms, and Frieda Ittleson, who were both Russian immigrants.

Education

Mirsky attended the Ethical Culture School in New York, graduating in 1918, and Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received a B. A. degree in 1922. Wishing to pursue further study of biology and physiology, Mirsky enrolled in the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He received a fellowship in the academic year 1924-1925 for the study of biochemistry at Cambridge University (England) under Joseph Barcroft. There he began a study he eventually completed under Lawrence J. Henderson at Harvard. He was awarded the Ph. D. by Cambridge in 1926, after submitting his dissertation, "The Haemoglobin Molecule. "

Career

At Cambridge, Mirsky collaborated with the American scientist Mortimer L. Anson. The two continued to work together in the United States until 1935, studying the structure of proteins. This early stage of Mirsky's work took place at a time when the molecular specificity of living material was being established over the prevailing view that protoplasm was an unspecific, undefinable soup of dispersed colloidal aggregates. Mirsky studied the hemoglobin molecule because it is comprised of a relatively short protein chain from which it is possible to isolate pure fractions. He subsequently developed methods of investigating increasingly complex biochemical systems. In 1927, Mirsky was appointed an assistant in the laboratory of Alfred E. Cohn at the hospital of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. He remained there for forty-five years, becoming a full professor in 1954 and retiring in 1972. During his first decade at Rockefeller, Mirsky studied molecules in a variety of biological systems. Subjects for his investigations included chick embryos, the enzyme trypsin, albumins, and muscle proteins. In 1936 he took a sabbatical year to study proteins with Linus Pauling at the California Institute of Technology. Together they researched the role of hydrogen bonds in stabilizing the configuration of coiled proteins. In 1938, Mirsky isolated a structural protein complex containing large amounts of DNA, which could be traced to the cell nucleus. This and other studies led in 1944 to the conclusion by Oswald T. Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty that genetic information was carried in the DNA molecule. They isolated DNA from a variety of mammalian cells and speculated on the relationship of nucleoproteins to genes. Hans Ris at Rockefeller University joined Mirsky's efforts from 1946 to 1951 to isolate chromosomes. Other colleagues included Vincent G. Allfrey, Marie Daly, and Herbert Stern. Mirsky and Ris found that cells from various tissues of the same species contained identical amounts of DNA. When reproductive cells are formed, the chromosomes are reduced by half. These reproductive cells were shown to contain half the amount of DNA. This led to the concept of DNA constancy and supported the conclusion that DNA was the genetic material. Demonstration of this fact in nonbacterial systems strengthened the growth of the science that was coming to be known as "molecular biology. " Following 1950, Mirsky and his colleagues continued their studies of the role of nucleic acids and proteins in the function of cells. They investigated the differential effects of proteins on gene expression in embryonic systems and the role of RNA in protein synthesis.

Mirsky edited the Journal of General Physiology from 1951 to 1961. He also edited, together with Jean Brachet, a multivolume reference work entitled The Cell, to which he contributed several major articles. The Cell, published between 1959 and 1967, was an essential reference for those wishing to master the new molecular biology. Mirsky served Rockefeller University as librarian from 1965 to 1972. Mirsky died at his Manhattan home.

Achievements

• Mirsky's career yielded seminal discoveries regarding the structure and function of biological molecules. Mirsky established a research partnership with Arthur W. Pollister of Columbia University and throughout the 1940's they carried on successful studies into the workings of the cell nucleus. In 1959, he founded the Rockefeller University Christmas lecture series for high school students, which now bears his name. Mirsky also played a major role in the education of nonspecialists. He was a consultant to Scientific American and contributed three significant articles between 1953 and 1968 introducing many nonspecialists to the new knowledge concerning nucleic acids and protein synthesis. Mirsky was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1954 and to the American Philosophical Society in 1964. The latter honor was awarded in recognition of his many published review articles, book reviews, and speeches and essays on a wide variety of scientific and social issues.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Cells and Their Component Parts: Biochemistry, Physiology, Morphology

    (Cells and Their Component Parts, Volume II covers the cel...)

  • Meiosis and Mitosis: Biochemistry, Physiology, Morphology

    (The Cell: Biochemistry, Physiology, Morphology, Volume II...)

Views

Mirsky cautioned against the misinterpretations of the social implications of scientific knowledge. He refuted, in particular, the arguments of eugenicists on the grounds that science did not support their conclusions regarding racial differences.

Interests

• Art and archaeology were Mirsky's lifelong and serious interests. He was a discriminating collector of ancient Greek coins and Chinese ceramics. These interests shaped his choices in travel and use of leisure time. He was a frequent and critical visitor to galleries, museums, and auctions.

Connections

Mirsky married Reba Paeff, a musician and children's book author, on May 25, 1926. The couple had two children. Their daughter, Reba Mirsky Goodman, became a pathology professor at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Their son, Jonathan Mirsky, became a professor of Chinese studies at Dartmouth College and later a journalist. After the death of his wife in 1966, he married Sonia Wohl, an associate librarian at Rockefeller, in 1967.

Father:

Michael David Mirsky

Mother:

Frieda Ittleson

Wife:

Reba Paeff

Wife:

Sonia Wohl

Daughter:

Reba Mirsky Goodman

Son:

Jonathan Mirsky