Caltech molecular biologist Davidson passes away

Norman Davidson, whose ground-breaking work in molecular biology at Caltech led to a better understanding of the genetic blueprint of life, died at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena on February 14 after a brief illness. He was 85.

Davidson was Caltech’s Chandler Professor of Chemical Biology, Emeritus; he had been a faculty member since 1946. He took emeritus status in 1986, but served as executive officer for biology from 1989 to 1997 and remained active in research until his death.

“It was with the deepest personal regret that I heard of the death of Norman Davidson,” said Caltech president David Baltimore. “Norman was a friend long before the prospect of my being president of Caltech arose, and he symbolized for me the essence of the Institute.

“His movement into biology from a background in chemistry allowed him to play a special role in the development of molecular biology. He saw imaginative ways that structural understanding could illuminate functional questions. He trained some of the finest and most imaginative people in the field. And he was deeply loved by all with whom he came in contact because of his unalloyed commitment to pushing the frontiers of understanding.

“Caltech is diminished by the loss of this great man who, undaunted by infirmity, almost to the end drove himself around the campus in his cart, asking questions, making suggestions, and still fully contributing to the institution to which he had given so much of his life,” Baltimore said.
Born in 1916, Davidson earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the
University of Chicago in 1937, and another bachelor of science degree at the University of Oxford in 1939 as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1941 he completed his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Chicago.

During the war he worked for the National Defense Research Committee Project at USC, and for the Division of War Research at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. From 1943 to 1945, he worked on the University of Chicago’s Plutonium Project.

After the war, Davidson joined the Caltech faculty as a chemistry instructor. He became a full professor in 1957, exec-utive officer for chemistry in 1967, and Chandler Professor of Chemical Biology in 1982.

Davidson was known in the scientific community for his innovative methods in bridging the gap between the physical and biological sciences. He pioneered new methods in physical chemistry and electron microscopy, the latter proving especially useful for genetic mapping and exploring the information properties of DNA and RNA.

In 1996, when he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Clinton, the White House cited him “for breakthroughs in chemistry and biology which have led to the earliest understanding of the overall structure of genomes.” Davidson was a founding member of the advisory council to the Human Genome Project.

“Norman was a major figure in both chemistry and biology for more than half a century, and one of the people who helped bring the two together, not just at Caltech, but in the subject as a whole,” said Caltech provost Steve Koonin.

Davidson’s many awards included his designation as the 1980 California Scientist of the Year, the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry, the Dickson Prize for Science, and the American Chemical Society’s Peter Debye Award. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Davidson is survived by his wife, Annemarie Davidson, of Sierra Madre; four children; and eight grandchildren.
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