Phoebus Levene
Phoebus Levene · Science & Medicine
Biochemist who identified the components of nucleic acids, including the sugars and bases of DNA and RNA.
1869, Žagarė, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) — 1940, New York City, USA
Russian Empire · United States
Phoebus Levene is recognized among Jewish contributors to Science & Medicine — Biochemist who identified the components of nucleic acids, including the sugars and bases of DNA and RNA.
Phoebus Levene was a biochemist at the Rockefeller Institute who identified the components of nucleic acids, showing that DNA and RNA are built from sugars, phosphate and the nitrogenous bases, and distinguishing the two sugars ribose and deoxyribose. His work laid essential groundwork for later understanding of the genetic material. He was born into a Jewish family in the Russian Empire and emigrated to the United States amid antisemitic persecution.
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Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
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Biochemist who identified the components of nucleic acids, including the sugars and bases of DNA and RNA.
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biology
