Rous, Francis Peyton

Rous, Francis Peyton, 1879–1970, American pathologist, b. Baltimore, educated at Johns Hopkins (B.A., 1900; M.D., 1905). He taught (1906–08) pathology at the Univ. of Michigan and in 1909 joined the Rockefeller Institute (now Rockefeller Univ.), in New York City. His long career included research in the physiology of the liver and blood (he helped develop blood banks). The 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to C. B. Huggins and Rous. The latter's award recognized his discovery of tumor-inducing viruses. The first report of this work in 1910 was received with disbelief by scientists, but subsequent research justified Rous's findings and added to the understanding of one of the causes of cancer.