Background
Puck, Theodore Thomas was born on September 24, 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Joseph and Bessie (Shapiro) Puckowitz.
biophysicist educator geneticist
Puck, Theodore Thomas was born on September 24, 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Joseph and Bessie (Shapiro) Puckowitz.
He attended Chicago public schools and obtained his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree from the University of Chicago. His Doctor of Philosophy work was on the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom and his doctoral advisor was James Franck. Puck was an early pioneer of "somatic cell genetics" and single-cell plating ( ie "cloning" ) This work allowed the genetics of human and other mammalian cells to be studied in detail.
Puck"s key work ultimately made modern genetics, such as the human genome and other mammalian genome projects, possible. Doctor Puck with the assistance of Philip I. Marcus, successfully cloned a HeLa cell in 1955. Puck made many basic discoveries in several areas.
His team which found that humans had 46 chromosomes rather than 48 which had earlier been believed.
He developed the CHO cell line from Chinese hamster ovarian cells for this work. These cells are still widely utilized in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Puck studied X-rays and cellular mutations. He also isolated and studied cellular mutations.
In 1973 he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University together with Renato Dulbecco and Harry Eagle.
He died following complications from a broken hip.
Member Commission on Physicians for the Future. Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences. Member American Society Human Genetics, American Chemical Society, Society Experimental Biology and Medicine, American Association for the Advancement of Science (Phi Beta Kappa award and lecturer 1983), American Association Immunologists, Radiation Research Society, Biophysics Society, Genetics Society of America, National Academy of Sciences, Tissue Culture Association (Honorary award 1987), Paideia Group, Santa Fe Institute of Science Board, Institute Medicine, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi.
Married Mary Hill, April 17, 1946. Children: Stirling, Jennifer, Laurel.