Frederick Sanger
Early Life and Education
Frederick Sanger was born on August 13, 1918, in Rendcombe, a small village in Gloucestershire, England. His father, Frederick Sanger Sr., was a medical practitioner and his mother, Cicely Sanger, was the daughter of a wealthy cotton manufacturer. Sanger was the second of three children and the only son.
Sanger received his early education at Bryanston School, a private boarding school in Dorset. He then went on to study natural sciences at St John's College, Cambridge in 1936. Initially, he showed interest in studying history, but he eventually chose to study biochemistry, a decision that would shape his future career.
Career and Research
After completing his undergraduate studies, Sanger decided to continue his research at Cambridge. He started his doctoral studies under the supervision of Albert Neuberger in the Department of Biochemistry. His doctoral research focused on the metabolism of the amino acid lysine in the bacterium E. coli.
In 1943, Sanger began working on protein structure at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. His work on insulin marked the first time a protein had been sequenced, and this pioneering work earned him his first Nobel Prize in 1958.
Sanger's second major area of research was nucleic acids. He developed the "dideoxy" method for sequencing DNA, also known as the Sanger method. This breakthrough revolutionized the field of genomics and earned him his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, making him one of only two people to have won the Nobel Prize in the same category twice.
Personal Life and Legacy
Sanger married Margaret Joan Howe in 1940. They had three children together. Despite his scientific achievements, Sanger was known for his humility and simplicity. He retired from active research in 1983 but continued to inspire future generations of scientists.
Sanger died on November 19, 2013, at the age of 95. His contributions to the field of biochemistry have had a profound impact on modern biology and medicine. The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, one of the world's leading genomics research centers, was named in his honor.