Michael Smith [2] (April 26, 1932 – October 4, 2000) was a British-Canadian biochemist and businessman. He shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry[3] with Kary Mullis for his work in developing site-directed mutagenesis. Following a PhD in 1956 from the University of Manchester, he undertook postdoctoral research with Har Gobind Khorana (himself a Nobel Prize winner) at the British Columbia Research Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Subsequently, Smith worked at the Fisheries Research Board of Canada Laboratory in Vancouver before being appointed a professor of biochemistry in the UBC Faculty of Medicine in 1966. Smith's career included roles as the founding director of the UBC Biotechnology Laboratory (1987 to 1995) and the founding scientific leader of the Protein Engineering Network of Centres of Excellence (PENCE). In 1996 he was named Peter Wall Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology. Subsequently, he became the founding director of the Genome Sequencing Centre (now called the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre) at the BC Cancer Research Centre.
Education and early life
Smith was born April 26, 1932, in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. He immigrated to Canada in 1956 and became a Canadian citizen in 1963. Smith married Helen Wood Christie on August 6, 1960, on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. The couple had three children (Tom, Ian and Wendy) and three grandchildren, but separated in 1983. In his later years, Smith lived with his partner Elizabeth Raines in Vancouver until his death on October 4, 2000.[4][5]
Smith first attended St. Nicholas Church of England School, a state-run elementary school. At the time, few children from state schools in England went on to further academic education, however Smith did well in the eleven plus exam, and was an exception. A scholarship enabled him to attend the Arnold School for Boys. A further scholarship allowed him to study Chemistry at the University of Manchester, where he pursued his interest in industrial chemistry and was awarded a BSc followed by a PhD in 1956 for research into the stereochemistry of diols.[6][4][5][7]
Career
Researcher
Smith's research career began with a post-doctoral fellowship at the British Columbia Research Council under the supervision of Khorana, who was developing new techniques of synthesizing nucleotides. The application of principles of physics and chemistry to living organisms was new at that time; DNA had been identified as the genetic material of a cell, and Khorana and others were investigating how DNA encoded the proteins that constituted an organism. In 1960, when Khorana was offered and accepted a university position with excellent laboratory facilities in the Institute for Enzyme Research[8] at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Smith moved with him.
After a few months in Wisconsin, Smith returned to Vancouver as a senior scientist and head of the Chemistry Division with the Vancouver Technological Station of the Fisheries Research Board (FRB) of Canada. In this role he conducted studies on the feeding habits and survival of spawning salmon, as well as identification of olfactory stimuli guiding salmon to their birth stream. His main research interest, however, continued to be nucleic acid synthesis, for which he received a United States Public Health Service Research Grant.
Concurrently with conducting research for FRB, Smith held the positions of associate professor at the University of British Columbia
Awards and honours
Smith received many awards in addition to the Nobel Prize, and was known for his generosity. He donated half of the Nobel Prize money to researchers working on the genetics of schizophrenia. The other half he gave to BC Science World and to the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology.[14] He received the Royal Bank Award in 1999,[15] and donated the companion grant to the BC Cancer Foundation.[16][17]
Recognition of his achievements also included several honorary degrees.[4] The following are named in Smith's honour:
His certificate of election to the Royal Society reads:
External links
- "Michael Smith (Biochemist)". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
References
- Michael R. Hayden, Victor Ling. Obituary: Michael Smith (1932–2000) Scientist who developed a landmark technique for gene analysis Nature, 2000^
- C. R. Astell. Michael Smith. 26 April 1932 – 4 October 2000 Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 2001^
- Marc A. Shampo, Robert A. Kyle. Michael Smith—Canadian Biochemist Wins 1993 Nobel Prize Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2003^