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UCLA Faculty Honored as California Scientist of the Year

Elizabeth Neufeld, Biological Chemistry, 1999

Elizabeth Neufeld Elizabeth Neufeld won the National Medal of Science (1994) for her work investigating the cause, consequences and treatment of human genetic diseases due to deficiency of lysosomal enzymes. Her current research focuses on the Sanfilippo syndrome type B, and exploring ways to get therapeutice enzymes or genes across the blood-brain barrier.

Faculty web page

 

John M. Dawson, Physics, 1978

John M. DawsonJohn Dawson joined the UCLA faculty in 1973 and worked here as a teacher and research scientist until his retirement in 2001. He was a leading figure in the physics of high temperature plasma for more than four decades. Dawson is regarded as the father of plasma-based accelerators as well as the father of computer simulation of plasmas.

The Dawson Cluster, a 256 dual-node computing cluster at UCLA, was named in his honor.

Born Champaign, Illinois, Sept. 30, 1930. Died Los Angeles, Sept. 17, 2001.

Video: A Physicist's Dream and 2001, University of California: In Memoriam

George Taplin, Nuclear Medicine, 1976

George Taplin was a pioneer in the use of radiation as a diagnostic tool. He came to UCLA in 1947 to work with Stafford Warren, founding dean of the School of Medicine. The Society for Nuclear Medicine (SNM) credits him with a number of breakthroughs. As early as 1955 he used radioactive iodine to image the liver, and developed a way to measure kidney function. In 1963, he developed new tools for the study of cell functions involved in fighting infection.

UCLA's George V. Taplin Chair in Nuclear Medicine was named in his honor.

Born Rochester, New York in 1910. Died Los Angeles, Sept. 19, 1979.

SNM's Timeline of Nuclear Medicine and 1980, University of California: In Memoriam

Donald Cram, Chemistry, 1974

Donald CramDonald Cram joined the UCLA faculty in 1947. It's estimated that he taught introductory chemistry to more than 12,000 undergraduate students. Cram pioneered a field of organic chemistry known as host-guest chemistry.

Cram won the Nobel Prize (1987) and the National Medal of Science (1993).

Born in 1919, the year of UCLA's founding. Died June 27, 2001.

Biography (Dept. of Chemistry) and 2002, University of California In Memoriam

Saul Winstein, Chemistry, 1962

Saul WinsteinSaul Winstein won the National Medal of Science (1970) for his work in organic chemistry, a field he helped bring to maturity. His discoveries have become integral parts of the science, and he invented many of the terms used to discuss ion-pair behavior.

Winstein was an active member of the UCLA faculty from 1941 until his death in 1969.

Born Montreal, Canada, Oct. 8, 1912. Died Los Angeles, Nov. 23, 1969.

1970: University of California In Memoriam and Biography (Department of Chemistry)

 

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