Background
Fridovich, Irwin was born on August 2, 1929 in New York City. Son of Louis and Sylvia (Appelbaum) Fridovich.
biochemist university professor
Fridovich, Irwin was born on August 2, 1929 in New York City. Son of Louis and Sylvia (Appelbaum) Fridovich.
Bachelor of Science, City College of New York, 1951; postgraduate, Cornell Univercity Medical College, 1951-1952; Doctor of Philosophy, Duke U., 1955; honorary doctorate, U. Rene Descartes, Paris, 1980.
Subsequently, Fridovich's research group also discovered the manganese-containing and the iron-containing SODs from E coli and the mitochondrial MnSOD (SOD2), now known to be an essential mammalian protein. He spent the rest of his career studying the biochemical mechanisms of SOD and of biological superoxide toxicity, using bacteria as model systems. Fridovich is currently Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at Duke University.
From 1951 to 1952, Fridovich served as a medical research associate at Cornell Medical College. He held junior teaching positions in biochemistry at Duke University 1956 to 1961 and was a visiting research associate at Harvard University from 1961 to 1962. He became an assistant professor in biochemistry at Duke University in 1961 and a full professor in 1971.
He was appointed as James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry in 1976 and has held the position as professor emeritus since 1996.
Fridovich has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Elliott Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. According to Google Scholar, he has over 51,000 citations in the scientific literature, including 7 papers with >1000 citations, and an H-index of 97. His discovery of the superoxide dismutase reaction essentially started the field of oxygen free radicals in biology and medicine, and that influence is shown by his election as president of the American Society of Biological Chemists (for 1982–83), the Oxygen Society (1987–1990), and the Society for Free Radical Research (1992–94), as well as award of the Science & Humanity Prize at the 2000 Oxygen Club World Congress.
Member NAS, American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Society Biological Chemists (president 1982), North Carolina Academy Sciences, Oxygen Society (president 1990), Society for Free Radical Research International, (president 1992), Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi.
Married Mollie Finkel. Children: Sharon E., Judith L.
