Pioneers in Microbiology by King-Thom Chung & Jong-Kang Liu

Author:King-Thom Chung & Jong-Kang Liu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Published: 2017-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

Commentary

Soon after starting at the Rockefeller Institute, Avery began to share apartment with Alphonse R. Dochez, who was then colleague in the respiratory disease department at the hospital. The two life-long bachelors were roommates for most of the 35 years. They made complementary housemates and friends, as Avery was somewhat introverted and retiring whereas Dochez was more gregarious and outgoing. They enjoyed discuss science, especially related to microbiology. Dochez said “Dr. Avery was a true scientist with an insatiable curiosity and a powerful and unremitting urge to discover the inmost mechanisms of the biological facts that came under his observations”. Avery and Dochez used each other as sounding boards for trying out new ideas or better defining works in progress.

In the early 1930s, Avery underwent treatment for Graves’ disease. He took a brief leaver from the Hospital in 1934 following thyroidectomy, but did not fully recover for several years. In 1943, at the mandatory retirement age of 65, Avery became a member emeritus at the Rockefeller Institute; however, he continued his research there until 1948. He then move to Nashville to be closer to the family of his brother, Roy, and quickly became a fixture in the neighborhood. His cousin, Minnie Wandell acted as his housekeeper. While vacationing on Deer Isle last in the summer of 1954, Avery felt terrific pain in the abdomen and was diagnosed with extensive hepatoma, or cancer of the liver. Oswald Theodore Avery lived to be 78 years of age, dying on 20 February 1955 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Avery was bestowed many honors during his career. He served as president of the American Association of Immunologists — the American Association of Pathologist and Bacteriologists, and the Society of American Bacteriologist (1941). He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1933) and Royal Society of London. He received honorary degrees from McGill University, New York University, The University of Chicago, and Rutgers University as well as wards from organizations Royal Society of London (the Copley Medal in 1945), the American College of Physicians (John Philips Memorial award in 1932), and the New York Academy of Medicine, Paul Ehrlich Gold Medal from the University of Frankfurt (1933), Kober Medal from the Association of American Physicians, Lasker Award in basic Medical Research from of American Public Association in 1947, and so on.

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