Nobel Prize Medals
1934 Liver and Anemia
2015 SOLD for $ 550K including premium
Medicine and pharmacy made significant progress by empirical experiments. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine highlights a long list of victories over previously incurable diseases. It was awarded in 1934 to Whipple, Minot and Murphy for their work on the diet of pernicious anemia.
The mechanism of the disease is not known when Whipple presumes that the liver has a role in it. He shows on dogs that the absorption of liver reverses the effects of an induced anemia. In 1926, Minot and Murphy use his results to prepare liver juice for patients showing syndromes of pernicious anemia. The disease is defeated.
The pharmaceutical story does not end at that point, fortunately. As early as 1928, another researcher who was not honored in the Nobel prize improved the diet by injecting liver extracts to the patient, avoiding him a daily swallow of a big quantity of liver food. In 1948, the cause of the pernicious anemia is identified as a deficiency of absorption by the intestine of a previously unidentified vitamin.
On September 21 in New York, Bonhams sells in one lot the Nobel medal and diploma awarded to George Minot along with various related documents, lot 46 estimated $ 200K.
One of these documents is particularly noteworthy. Minot suffered from a severe diabetes. He had been saved from death by the discovery of insulin in 1921. Frederick Banting wrote from Toronto to congratulate him on his Nobel and to comfort him by stating that good quality insulin is also available in Sweden.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Bonhams.
The mechanism of the disease is not known when Whipple presumes that the liver has a role in it. He shows on dogs that the absorption of liver reverses the effects of an induced anemia. In 1926, Minot and Murphy use his results to prepare liver juice for patients showing syndromes of pernicious anemia. The disease is defeated.
The pharmaceutical story does not end at that point, fortunately. As early as 1928, another researcher who was not honored in the Nobel prize improved the diet by injecting liver extracts to the patient, avoiding him a daily swallow of a big quantity of liver food. In 1948, the cause of the pernicious anemia is identified as a deficiency of absorption by the intestine of a previously unidentified vitamin.
On September 21 in New York, Bonhams sells in one lot the Nobel medal and diploma awarded to George Minot along with various related documents, lot 46 estimated $ 200K.
One of these documents is particularly noteworthy. Minot suffered from a severe diabetes. He had been saved from death by the discovery of insulin in 1921. Frederick Banting wrote from Toronto to congratulate him on his Nobel and to comfort him by stating that good quality insulin is also available in Sweden.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Bonhams.
1947 André Gide the Emancipator
2016 SOLD for € 360K including premium
André Gide has never hesitated to fight all the moral and religious dogmas. He dreams of liberty in politics and of sensual freedom. He announced his homosexuality as early as 1893 while knowing that he will have to face hatred and shame.
His personal work is considerable but his animation of the French literary life is also important. By his passionate contribution to the Nouvelle Revue Française, he opens to French writers of all trends a better chance to have their voices heard.
Despite some extreme positions on morality his intellectual honesty is unquestionable, as for example when he acknowledges that his rejection of the first book submitted by Proust was a major blunder or when he gives up his temptation for supporting the Stalinism.
After World War II, the old writer significantly slows his activity. In 1947 the Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to him. The Nobel committee was courageous in this decision. revealing that its members had voluntarily waived his reputation of an incentive to depravity. A praising comment justified the decision by recognizing his role as an emancipator of the mind.
Gide's Nobel medal and diploma are sold in one lot by Christie's in Paris on April 22. It is estimated € 200K, lot 177.
His personal work is considerable but his animation of the French literary life is also important. By his passionate contribution to the Nouvelle Revue Française, he opens to French writers of all trends a better chance to have their voices heard.
Despite some extreme positions on morality his intellectual honesty is unquestionable, as for example when he acknowledges that his rejection of the first book submitted by Proust was a major blunder or when he gives up his temptation for supporting the Stalinism.
After World War II, the old writer significantly slows his activity. In 1947 the Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to him. The Nobel committee was courageous in this decision. revealing that its members had voluntarily waived his reputation of an incentive to depravity. A praising comment justified the decision by recognizing his role as an emancipator of the mind.
Gide's Nobel medal and diploma are sold in one lot by Christie's in Paris on April 22. It is estimated € 200K, lot 177.
1953 An Engine within the Cell
2015 SOLD for £ 275K including premium
2016 UNSOLD
PRE 2016 SALE DISCUSSION
The discovery of the citric acid cycle by Hans Krebs was one of the most significant breakthrough in life sciences.
His Nobel medal and diploma housed in the original gilt printed case were sold for £ 275K including premium by Sotheby's on 14 July 2015, lot 56. This set is now offered by Nate D. Sanders in a timed online auction ending on April 28 with a minimum bid at $ 550K, lot 1.
I narrated this story as follows in 2015 :
Hans Adolf Krebs analyzed the chemical mechanism of production of energy from food and was awarded in 1953 for this discovery the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with Lipmann.
By analyzing the urea in 1932, Krebs had already appreciated that the main mechanisms that support life are cycles. The citric acid cycle or Krebs cycle, published by him in 1937, explains life.
Lipids, carbohydrates and amino acids that constitute the food are chemically broken before triggering successively ten catalyzed chemical reactions within the cell, producing the energy that activates the respiration. It is a cycle because the last chemical reaction recreates the molecule that receives the organic substances in the cell. The process is endless as far as the animal injects food.
The Krebs cycle applies to all living beings including bacteria and appeared when the level of oxygen increased on Earth two billion years ago.
Hans Adolf Krebs was a Jew. Expelled from Germany by the Nazis in 1933, he was highly welcomed in England and is considered a British scientist, naturalized in 1939.
His Nobel Prize was sold in 2015 by Sotheby's for the benefit of The Sir Hans Krebs Trust, a newly created charity endeavoring to support researchers in biology or medicine prevented by persecution to work in their home country.
The discovery of the citric acid cycle by Hans Krebs was one of the most significant breakthrough in life sciences.
His Nobel medal and diploma housed in the original gilt printed case were sold for £ 275K including premium by Sotheby's on 14 July 2015, lot 56. This set is now offered by Nate D. Sanders in a timed online auction ending on April 28 with a minimum bid at $ 550K, lot 1.
I narrated this story as follows in 2015 :
Hans Adolf Krebs analyzed the chemical mechanism of production of energy from food and was awarded in 1953 for this discovery the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with Lipmann.
By analyzing the urea in 1932, Krebs had already appreciated that the main mechanisms that support life are cycles. The citric acid cycle or Krebs cycle, published by him in 1937, explains life.
Lipids, carbohydrates and amino acids that constitute the food are chemically broken before triggering successively ten catalyzed chemical reactions within the cell, producing the energy that activates the respiration. It is a cycle because the last chemical reaction recreates the molecule that receives the organic substances in the cell. The process is endless as far as the animal injects food.
The Krebs cycle applies to all living beings including bacteria and appeared when the level of oxygen increased on Earth two billion years ago.
Hans Adolf Krebs was a Jew. Expelled from Germany by the Nazis in 1933, he was highly welcomed in England and is considered a British scientist, naturalized in 1939.
His Nobel Prize was sold in 2015 by Sotheby's for the benefit of The Sir Hans Krebs Trust, a newly created charity endeavoring to support researchers in biology or medicine prevented by persecution to work in their home country.
1962 The Invention of the Molecular Biology
2014 SOLD for $ 4.8M including premium
The birth of molecular biology is the result of a multidisciplinary cooperation between chemists, physicists and biologists. The existence of nucleic acids in the cell nuclei had been identified in the nineteenth century. From 1939, advances in micro-radiography X gave hope to understand the structure of these molecules.
Scientists had identified two types of acids, RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the cytoplasm of the cell and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in the chromosomes. They appreciated that these acids held the key to the functioning of life.
Two British laboratories of crystallography worked collaboratively. Francis Crick, assisted by the young US doctor James D. Watson, was at Cambridge. In London, Maurice Wilkins was assisted by Rosalind Franklin who perfected the techniques of observation and realized the radiograms. The untimely cancer of Rosalind Franklin is probably due to an excess of radiation dose.
The single helix of RNA structure and the two strands of DNA were among the first discoveries. In 1953, Watson understood that the shapes of the elements of the two DNA strands were identical although these elements were different. Crick and Watson immediately developed the model of the double helix, which was the biggest breakthrough of all time in the field of life sciences.
The letter written by Crick to his young son showed that he was aware of the importance of the discovery. It was sold for $ 6,05M including premium by Christie's on April 10, 2013.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Crick, Watson and Wilkins in 1962. Crick's Nobel medal and diploma were sold as a single lot for $ 2,27M including premium by Heritage on April 11, 2013.
Watson, now 86 years old, entrusted Christie's to sell his Nobel memories, offered in three lots on December 4 in New York. The Nobel medal with its case is estimated $ 2.5M, lot 1. His handwritten notes for the acceptance speech are estimated $ 300K,lot 2.
The manuscript of his Nobel lecture on the role of RNA in protein synthesis is estimated $ 200K, lot 3. Less than ten years after the discovery of the double helix, this theme highlighted the fact that the physicochemical mechanisms of life were already fully explained.
A portion of the proceeds from the sales will be donated by Dr. Watson to the benefit of scientific research and charities.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM
medal : $ 4.8M
speech : $ 365K
lecture : $ 245K
Scientists had identified two types of acids, RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the cytoplasm of the cell and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in the chromosomes. They appreciated that these acids held the key to the functioning of life.
Two British laboratories of crystallography worked collaboratively. Francis Crick, assisted by the young US doctor James D. Watson, was at Cambridge. In London, Maurice Wilkins was assisted by Rosalind Franklin who perfected the techniques of observation and realized the radiograms. The untimely cancer of Rosalind Franklin is probably due to an excess of radiation dose.
The single helix of RNA structure and the two strands of DNA were among the first discoveries. In 1953, Watson understood that the shapes of the elements of the two DNA strands were identical although these elements were different. Crick and Watson immediately developed the model of the double helix, which was the biggest breakthrough of all time in the field of life sciences.
The letter written by Crick to his young son showed that he was aware of the importance of the discovery. It was sold for $ 6,05M including premium by Christie's on April 10, 2013.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Crick, Watson and Wilkins in 1962. Crick's Nobel medal and diploma were sold as a single lot for $ 2,27M including premium by Heritage on April 11, 2013.
Watson, now 86 years old, entrusted Christie's to sell his Nobel memories, offered in three lots on December 4 in New York. The Nobel medal with its case is estimated $ 2.5M, lot 1. His handwritten notes for the acceptance speech are estimated $ 300K,lot 2.
The manuscript of his Nobel lecture on the role of RNA in protein synthesis is estimated $ 200K, lot 3. Less than ten years after the discovery of the double helix, this theme highlighted the fact that the physicochemical mechanisms of life were already fully explained.
A portion of the proceeds from the sales will be donated by Dr. Watson to the benefit of scientific research and charities.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM
medal : $ 4.8M
speech : $ 365K
lecture : $ 245K
1962 Award for the Double Helix
2013 SOLD 2.27 M$ including premium
The progress in the crystallographic analyses of molecules enabled the greatest scientific discovery of the last century. In 1953, by inspecting the X-ray photographs of components of biological cells, two researchers at Cambridge, England, built the double helix model of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
Both strands of the helix are connected by regularly spaced links which are always constituted by a pair of chains in two couples of possibilities. When the strands are disjoined, the helix is restructured with organic matter for the creation of the second strand of a new double helix with the same genetic message as the original DNA molecule.
Crick and Watson knew immediately that they had found the secret of the transmission of information in biological material. With this key, molecular biology soon became a major science, leading to understand cell differentiation and biodiversity.
In 1962, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Crick, Watson and Wilkins. The Nobel gold medal and diploma attributed to Francis HC Crick are presented in a single lot, estimated $ 500K, in the sale organized by Heritage in New York on 10 and 11 April. Here is the link to the catalog.
Before Crick and Watson, no geometer, no artist had imagined this compact and steady structure.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 2.27 million including premium, exceeds all expectations. It was impossible to really estimate it prior to the sale because of the scarcity of Nobel medals on the market and of the importance of the scientific work rewarded by this one.
The price recorded the day before by Christie's on the letter of the scientist to his son, $ 6.05M including premium, also certainly had a positive effect on this lot.
The intrinsic beauty of the double helix is shown in the animation offered to the public domain by Wikimedia user brian0918:
Both strands of the helix are connected by regularly spaced links which are always constituted by a pair of chains in two couples of possibilities. When the strands are disjoined, the helix is restructured with organic matter for the creation of the second strand of a new double helix with the same genetic message as the original DNA molecule.
Crick and Watson knew immediately that they had found the secret of the transmission of information in biological material. With this key, molecular biology soon became a major science, leading to understand cell differentiation and biodiversity.
In 1962, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Crick, Watson and Wilkins. The Nobel gold medal and diploma attributed to Francis HC Crick are presented in a single lot, estimated $ 500K, in the sale organized by Heritage in New York on 10 and 11 April. Here is the link to the catalog.
Before Crick and Watson, no geometer, no artist had imagined this compact and steady structure.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 2.27 million including premium, exceeds all expectations. It was impossible to really estimate it prior to the sale because of the scarcity of Nobel medals on the market and of the importance of the scientific work rewarded by this one.
The price recorded the day before by Christie's on the letter of the scientist to his son, $ 6.05M including premium, also certainly had a positive effect on this lot.
The intrinsic beauty of the double helix is shown in the animation offered to the public domain by Wikimedia user brian0918:
1963 The Nerves of the Squid
2015 SOLD for $ 800K including premium
The knowledge of the physico-chemical functioning of life made its breakthroughs in the mid-twentieth century helped of course by the X-rays but also by the improvement of electricity and electronics.
Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley are biophysicists and more exactly electrophysiologists. The new technique of the voltage clamp allows them to measure the electric signal across the membrane of a nerve cell.
The sciatic nerve of the frog did not allow measurements in a sufficient accuracy. Working in association with the marine biology laboratory of Plymouth in England, they use in their experiments the largest known axon in the animal reign, measuring 1 mm in diameter, used by the squid to elicit a quick reaction to a threat.
The two researchers can then model the electrical behavior of the neuron. This fruitful advance will have a considerable impact on the knowledge and healing of several nerve diseases and will enable to raise a model of the transmission of nerve inputs to the muscular system. The existence of ion channels in cell membranes will be confirmed by others much later, completing the description of the nervous cell.
Hodgkin and Huxley shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with John Eccles. The Nobel medal awarded to Hodgkin will be sold with various documents including a copy of the scientific publication associated with the prize as lot 1 in an online timed auction ending on October 29. The minimum bid is $ 450K.
The auction house, Nate D. Sanders, is based in Los Angeles. It is gradually becoming a leader in the growing market for Nobel medals, with successful sales reminded below.
The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences of Kuznets (1971) was sold for $ 390K on 26 February 2015. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry of Wieland (1927) was sold for $ 395K on 30 April 2015. The Nobel Prize in Physics of Lederman (1988) was sold for $ 765K on 28 May 2015. These prices include the premium.
Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley are biophysicists and more exactly electrophysiologists. The new technique of the voltage clamp allows them to measure the electric signal across the membrane of a nerve cell.
The sciatic nerve of the frog did not allow measurements in a sufficient accuracy. Working in association with the marine biology laboratory of Plymouth in England, they use in their experiments the largest known axon in the animal reign, measuring 1 mm in diameter, used by the squid to elicit a quick reaction to a threat.
The two researchers can then model the electrical behavior of the neuron. This fruitful advance will have a considerable impact on the knowledge and healing of several nerve diseases and will enable to raise a model of the transmission of nerve inputs to the muscular system. The existence of ion channels in cell membranes will be confirmed by others much later, completing the description of the nervous cell.
Hodgkin and Huxley shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with John Eccles. The Nobel medal awarded to Hodgkin will be sold with various documents including a copy of the scientific publication associated with the prize as lot 1 in an online timed auction ending on October 29. The minimum bid is $ 450K.
The auction house, Nate D. Sanders, is based in Los Angeles. It is gradually becoming a leader in the growing market for Nobel medals, with successful sales reminded below.
The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences of Kuznets (1971) was sold for $ 390K on 26 February 2015. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry of Wieland (1927) was sold for $ 395K on 30 April 2015. The Nobel Prize in Physics of Lederman (1988) was sold for $ 765K on 28 May 2015. These prices include the premium.
1978 Slices of DNA
2017 SOLD for $ 370K including premium
The self-defense of the body against viruses depends on mechanisms of molecular biochemistry. The restriction enzymes which attack the DNA of the bacteriophage have been discovered by Werner Arber. In 1970 Hamilton Smith identifies a new type of restriction enzyme whose much more targeted chemical action always breaks DNA at the same place in the nucleotide sequence.
As early as the following year Daniel Nathans, Smith's colleague at the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, uses these enzymes to cut DNA molecules into short fragments and establish for the first time the complete map of a virus.
This experiment conducted with his graduate student Kathleen Danna is one of the most promising inventions in the history of microbiology : by dividing the highly extended molecule into slices, it greatly facilitates further analyzes and opens the way to the use of DNA fragments as medical drugs.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Arber, Nathans and Smith in 1978. On December 5 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 199 estimated $ 400K a set consisting of the Nobel medal of Daniel Nathans in its box, his Nobel diploma and three publications including his Nobel lecture.
This group is sold by Nathans's family to help financing the Hamilton Smith Award for Innovative Research of the Johns Hopkins Medical School.
As early as the following year Daniel Nathans, Smith's colleague at the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, uses these enzymes to cut DNA molecules into short fragments and establish for the first time the complete map of a virus.
This experiment conducted with his graduate student Kathleen Danna is one of the most promising inventions in the history of microbiology : by dividing the highly extended molecule into slices, it greatly facilitates further analyzes and opens the way to the use of DNA fragments as medical drugs.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Arber, Nathans and Smith in 1978. On December 5 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 199 estimated $ 400K a set consisting of the Nobel medal of Daniel Nathans in its box, his Nobel diploma and three publications including his Nobel lecture.
This group is sold by Nathans's family to help financing the Hamilton Smith Award for Innovative Research of the Johns Hopkins Medical School.
1979 Promising Liaisons
2016 SOLD for $ 274K including premium
The German chemist Georg Wittig was a skilled experimenter who trained in his turn many researchers. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979 jointly with Herbert C. Brown. His most important discovery made in 1954 was named the Wittig reaction.
On October 19 in Dallas, Heritage sells together as lot 49227 five medals awarded to Wittig : his Nobel medal and four other medals from 1953 to 1973. Among them the Otto Hahn Prize is the highest award in Germany for physics and chemistry. Wittig received it in 1967.
Alkenes are molecules organized around a carbon double bond. When the four peripheral atoms are hydrogen, this simplest alkene is ethylene. Such carbon based molecules are highly useful in pharmacology.
The production of alkenes is difficult by subtraction. Wittig's merit is to have obtained them in an organic synthesis. The combined presence of an aldehyde and a triphenylphosphine oxide creates the desired double bond of carbon by breaking the carbon-oxygen double bond of the aldehyde. Wikimedia provides the formula:
On October 19 in Dallas, Heritage sells together as lot 49227 five medals awarded to Wittig : his Nobel medal and four other medals from 1953 to 1973. Among them the Otto Hahn Prize is the highest award in Germany for physics and chemistry. Wittig received it in 1967.
Alkenes are molecules organized around a carbon double bond. When the four peripheral atoms are hydrogen, this simplest alkene is ethylene. Such carbon based molecules are highly useful in pharmacology.
The production of alkenes is difficult by subtraction. Wittig's merit is to have obtained them in an organic synthesis. The combined presence of an aldehyde and a triphenylphosphine oxide creates the desired double bond of carbon by breaking the carbon-oxygen double bond of the aldehyde. Wikimedia provides the formula:
1982 Mister Disarmament
2017 SOLD for $ 490K including premium
The Cuban missile crisis reminds throughout the world in 1962 the greatest horrors of the 20th century. Mexico is geographically very close to the epicenter of this showdown between the countries involved in the Cold War. A Mexican diplomat and international law specialist, Alfonso Garcia Robles dedicates the rest of his career to the demise of nuclear weapons. At the UN he will be nicknamed Mr Disarmament.
The work is fast and efficient. Drafted on 14 February 1967 in Mexico City, the Treaty of Tlatelolco is signed in the same year by all countries of Latin America except Cuba, and by Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. It is being progressively ratified by 33 countries now including Cuba, including all the major nuclear powers, permanently providing an area of 21 million km2 free from nuclear weapons.
Politically more important than the denuclearization of Antarctica which entered into force in 1961, the Treaty of Tlatelolco inspired the nuclear disarmament of other regions in the world, including the whole of Africa by the Treaty of Pelindaba which came into force in 2009.
In 1982, Garcia Robles received the Nobel Peace Prize for his stubborn work in preparing and promoting the Treaty of Tlatelolco. He shared this award with the Swedish pacifist Alva Myrdal who had been an active delegate during more than 10 years at the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
The Nobel medal of Alfonso Garcia Robles with its blue morocco case is estimated $ 400K for sale by Christie's in New York on April 28, lot 28.
The work is fast and efficient. Drafted on 14 February 1967 in Mexico City, the Treaty of Tlatelolco is signed in the same year by all countries of Latin America except Cuba, and by Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. It is being progressively ratified by 33 countries now including Cuba, including all the major nuclear powers, permanently providing an area of 21 million km2 free from nuclear weapons.
Politically more important than the denuclearization of Antarctica which entered into force in 1961, the Treaty of Tlatelolco inspired the nuclear disarmament of other regions in the world, including the whole of Africa by the Treaty of Pelindaba which came into force in 2009.
In 1982, Garcia Robles received the Nobel Peace Prize for his stubborn work in preparing and promoting the Treaty of Tlatelolco. He shared this award with the Swedish pacifist Alva Myrdal who had been an active delegate during more than 10 years at the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
The Nobel medal of Alfonso Garcia Robles with its blue morocco case is estimated $ 400K for sale by Christie's in New York on April 28, lot 28.
1993 DNA in Vitro
2016 SOLD for $ 670K including premium
Life exists because the chains of the DNA molecule have the capability to replicate. The discovery of the double helix structure by the team of crystallographers of Crick and Watson in 1953 was followed as early as 1956 by the discovery of the catalyst by a biochemist, Kornberg.
The molecular phenomena are too small to be studied individually but the challenge is immense. Genetic defects or viral attacks would be best countered if their mechanisms were modeled on the scale of the chain sequence.
The early tests for the replication in vitro of complete DNA sequences are discouraging by their processing time and their low yield. Chemists take control in their turn of that problem. In 1982, a publication by Dr. Kary Mullis working for Cetus company provides the solution, identified as PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction).
Once the chain carrying the property to be analyzed is isolated, it is put in the presence of a nourishing primer and subjected to successive cycles of heating and cooling. The reaction is fast and the population growth is exponential. The invention of Mullis is intuitive. His great merit is to have proved the correctness of his concept by developing the appropriate machine. The impact on genetic engineering is immediate.
Mullis received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with the biochemist Michael Smith.
On February 14 in Pasadena, Bonhams sells in one lot the Nobel medal of Dr. Mullis along with his Nobel diploma, a copy of his lecture and several other documents. He is only the third Nobel winner to sell his own medal at auction, and much younger than Watson and Lederman. This set is estimated $ 450K, lot 93.
I invite you to watch the interview of Dr. Mullis by Bonhams before the preparation of the sale.
The molecular phenomena are too small to be studied individually but the challenge is immense. Genetic defects or viral attacks would be best countered if their mechanisms were modeled on the scale of the chain sequence.
The early tests for the replication in vitro of complete DNA sequences are discouraging by their processing time and their low yield. Chemists take control in their turn of that problem. In 1982, a publication by Dr. Kary Mullis working for Cetus company provides the solution, identified as PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction).
Once the chain carrying the property to be analyzed is isolated, it is put in the presence of a nourishing primer and subjected to successive cycles of heating and cooling. The reaction is fast and the population growth is exponential. The invention of Mullis is intuitive. His great merit is to have proved the correctness of his concept by developing the appropriate machine. The impact on genetic engineering is immediate.
Mullis received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with the biochemist Michael Smith.
On February 14 in Pasadena, Bonhams sells in one lot the Nobel medal of Dr. Mullis along with his Nobel diploma, a copy of his lecture and several other documents. He is only the third Nobel winner to sell his own medal at auction, and much younger than Watson and Lederman. This set is estimated $ 450K, lot 93.
I invite you to watch the interview of Dr. Mullis by Bonhams before the preparation of the sale.