Background
Stanley was born in Ridgeville, Indiana, and earned a BS in Chemistry at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.
biochemist chemist university professor virologist
Stanley was born in Ridgeville, Indiana, and earned a BS in Chemistry at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.
He then studied at the University of Illinois, gaining an MS in science in 1927 followed by a Ph.D. in chemistry two years later.
Research
On return he was approved as an assistant at The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. He remained with the Institute until 1948, becoming an Associate Member in 1937, and a Member in 1940. He later became Professor of Biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.
Stanley's work contributed to on lepracidal compounds, diphenyl stereochemistry and the chemistry of the sterols. His researches on the virus causing the mosaic disease in tobacco plants led to the isolation of a nucleoprotein which displayed tobacco mosaic virus activity. He was also awarded honorary degrees by many universities both American and foreign, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Paris.
Most of the conclusions Stanley had presented in his Nobel-winning research were soon shown to be incorrect (in particular, that the crystals of mosaic virus he had isolated were pure protein, and assembled by autocatalysis). Personal life
Stanley Hall at UC Berkeley (now Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility) and Stanley Hall at Earlham College are named in his honor. Daughter Marjorie married Dr. Robert Albo, physician to Golden State Warriors basketball team as well as, the Oakland Raiders football team.
Was an avid amateur magician and had one of the most important collections of magical props and apparatus in the world. When he died his entire collection was purchased by David Copperfield. Robert and Marjorie lived in Piedmont, CA.
As a member of National Research Council he moved temporarily for academic work with Heinrich Wieland in Munich before he returned to the States in 1931.