Delbruck, << DEHL bruk, >> Max (1906-1981), a German-born American biologist, shared the 1969 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Alfred Hershey and Salvador Luria. Delbruck received the prize for his pioneering work on bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria). This work partly focused on the genetic function of bacteriophages. Delbruck’s studies led other scientists to discover the structure and importance of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). DNA is the substance that makes up genes, the material in cells that determines the characteristics of an organism.
Delbruck was born in Grunewald, now part of Berlin, on Sept. 4, 1906. In 1930, he received his doctorate from the University of Gottingen. Delbruck immigrated to the United States in 1937 and became a U.S. citizen in 1945. He taught at several universities, mostly at the California Institute of Technology. He died on March 9, 1981.
