Paul Alfred Weiss | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 21, 1898 |
| Died | September 8, 1989 |
| Citizenship | USA |
| Alma mater | Technische Hochschule Wien (1922) |
| Known for | morphogenesis developmental biology neurobiology |
| Awards | National Medal of Science (1979) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | developmental biology |
| Institutions | Vienna University of Technology Biological Research Institute of the Vienna Academy of Sciences Yale University University of Chicago Rockefeller University |
| Doctoral advisor | Hans Prizbram |
| Doctoral students | Roger Sperry |
Paul Alfred Weiss (March 21 1898-September 8 1989) was an Austrian biologist.
Paul Weiss worked in morphogenesis, development, differentiation and neurobiology. He was known as a gifted teacher, experimenter, and theorist, who made a lasting contribution to science in his lengthy career.
Biographical sketch
Paul Weiss was born on March 21, 1898, in Vienna, Austria.
After the end of the First World War, he commenced studies in mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna, (now Vienna University of Technology) then shifted his focus to biology, with a minor in physics. Throughout his career he sought to encourage specialists in different fields to meet and share insights. He completed his doctoral thesis in 1922, on the responses of butterflies to light and gravity.
After completing his thesis, he traveled widely in Europe, and then became and assistant director of the Biological Research Institute of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, before eventually moving to the USA, and where he became a citizen in 1939. He worked briefly at Yale, and then at the University of Chicago from 1933 to 1954. In 1954 he became one of the first professors at the new Rockefeller University in New York, where he remained for a further fifteen years.
In Europe he performed some famous experiments on limb regeneration in newts, showing that a complete limb could regenerate even if particular tissue forms were removed from the stump. This showed that the required types of tissue would reform. He studied cell differentiation, and the transplanting and reforming of connections in the nervous system for limbs, using newts and frogs for the experiments.
His later studies went on to consider neurobiology and and morphogenesis. He wrote the highly regarded text Weiss, PA (1939), Principles of Development, Henry Holt and Company.
Paul Wiess was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1947, and was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. He died at White Plains, New York, on September 8, 1989, at the age of 91.
See also
External links
- Overton, Jane, Paul Alfred Weiss, Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Sciences, retrieved 2007-07-22
- Overton, Jane (1997), "Paul Alfred Weiss", Biographical Memoirs, vol. 72, National Academy of Science, pp. 372–386. (A longer version of the above.)
