Arthur Kornberg :: essays research papers

A. Personal InformationArthur Kornberg (1918-), American biochemist and physician, claims he has never met a dull enzyme. He has devoted his life to pursuing and purifying these tiny protein molecules. His love of science did not spring from a family history root in science. He was born on March 3rd, 1918, the son of a sewing car operator in the sweatshops of the Lower East facial expression of New York City. His parents, Joseph Aaron Kornberg and Lena Rachel Katz, were immigrant Jews who made great sacrifices to ensure the safety of their family. They had fled Poland, for if they had stayed, they would have been hit in a German concentration camp. His grandfather had aban through with(p)d the parental family name Queller, of Spanish origin. This was done to escape the fate of the army write he had taken the name of Kornberg, a man who had already done his service. His father used their meager earnings to bring and settle his family in New York City and was thrust into the swe atshops as a sewing machine operator. He, along with his brother Martin, 13 years older and sister Ella, nine-spot years older, was encouraged by loving parents to obtain a full education. The public inform reinforced this ideal. Education was the road of opportunity for neighborly and economic mobility out of the sweatshops.His early education in grade school and Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn was distinguished only by his skipping several grades. There was nothing inspirational around his courses except the teachers hike to get good grades. When he received a grade of coulomb in the New York State Regents Examination, his chemistry teacher glowed with pride. It was the first eon in over twenty years of teaching that a educatee of his had gotten a perfect grade. Arthur was a brilliant student who graduated from superior school at the age of fifteen. He enrolled in City College in uptown Manhattan. Competition among a large body of bright and extremely motivated students was fierce in all subjects. His high school care in chemistry carried over into college. After receiving his B.S. degree in biota and chemistry in 1937, and since City College offered no graduate studies or explore laboratories at that time, he became one of two hundred pre-med students at the University of Rochester. on the whole through college he worked as a salesman in his parents furnishing store, and earned about $14 a week.