Lederberg, Joshua (lā`dərbûrg'), 1925–, American geneticist, b. Montclair, N.J., grad. Columbia, 1944, Ph.D. Yale, 1948. He is known for his studies of the genetic mechanisms of bacteria. He shared with G. W. Beadle and E. L. Tatum the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for establishing that sexual recombination occurs in bacteria. Lederberg showed that although bacteria reproduce only by dividing, they are able to effect sexual recombination by processes that result in exchange of genetic material between different bacteria. In 1978, he joined Rockefeller Univ.; where he served as president until 1990.

Lederberg, Joshua

(born May 23, 1925, Montclair, N.J., U.S.—died Feb. 2, 2008, New York, N.Y.) U.S. geneticist. He earned a Ph.D. (1948) at Yale University. With his student Norton Zinder, Lederberg discovered that certain viruses are capable of carrying a bacterial gene from one bacterium to another, a discovery that made bacteria as important a tool of genetic research as Drosophila and the bread mold Neurospora. He also developed breeding techniques for bacterial genetics. In 1958 he shared the Nobel Prize with George Wells Beadle and Edward L. Tatum for discovery of the mechanisms of genetic recombination in bacteria.

Lederberg, Joshua (1925– ) geneticist; born in Montclair, N.J. He joined the University of Wisconsin (1947–58), moved to Stanford (1959–78), then became president of Rockefeller University (1978–90), where he remained as a professor. He shared one-half the 1958 Nobel Prize in physiology for his work as Edward Tatum's graduate student at Yale (1944–47), where he discovered that bacteria can reproduce sexually, and for his subsequent contributions to the science of bacterial genetics. His discovery of transduction in bacterial genes engendered the possibility of genetic engineering. He was a consultant for the U.S. space program, and wrote extensively on evolution and the future of humanity.