Baruch Samuel Blumberg (1925 – 2011), aka Barry Blumberg, was an American physician, geneticist, co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Daniel Carleton Gajdusek), for his work on the hepatitis B virus. He was also the first director of NASA Astrobiology Institute.

September 2, 2024
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He was also president of the American Philosophical Society from 2005 until his death.

Blumberg and Gajdusek received the Nobel Prize for discovering “new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases.” Blumberg identified the hepatitis B virus, and later developed its diagnostic test and vaccine.

Biography

Early life and education

Blumberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family, the son of Ida (Simonoff) and Meyer Blumberg, a lawyer. He first attended the Orthodox Yeshivah of Flatbush for elementary school, where–in addition to all regular school subjects–he learned to read and write in Hebrew, and to study the Bible and Jewish texts in their original language. (That school also had among its students a contemporary of Blumberg, Eric Kandel, who is another recipient of the Nobel Prize in medicine.) Blumberg then attended Brooklyn’s James Madison High School, a school that Blumberg described as having high academic standards, including many teachers with Ph.D.s. After moving to Far Rockaway, Queens, he transferred to Far Rockaway High School in the early 1940s, a school that also produced fellow laureates Burton Richter and Richard Feynman. Blumberg served as a U.S. Navy deck officer during World War II. He then attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, and graduated from there with honors in 1946.

Originally entering the graduate program in mathematics at Columbia University, Blumberg switched to medicine and enrolled at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he received his MD in 1951. He remained at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center for the next four years, first as an intern and then as a resident. He then moved to the University of Oxford and began graduate work in biochemistry at Balliol College, Oxford, and earned his DPhil there in 1957. He later became the first American to be master at Balliol College, Oxford.

Scientific career

1999 press conference at which Blumberg was introduced as the first director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute

Throughout the 1950s, Blumberg traveled the world taking human blood samples, to study the genetic variations in human beings, focusing on the question of why some people contract a disease in a given environment, while others do not. In 1964, while studying “yellow jaundice” (hepatitis), he discovered a surface antigen for hepatitis B in the blood of an Australian aborigine, hence initially called the ‘Australian antigen’. His work later demonstrated that the virus could cause liver cancer. Blumberg and his team were able to develop a screening test for the hepatitis B virus, to prevent its spread in blood donations, and developed a vaccine. Blumberg later freely distributed his vaccine patent in order to promote its distribution by drug companies. Deployment of the vaccine reduced the infection rate of hepatitis B in children in China from 15% to 1% in 10 years.

In 1964, Blumberg became a member of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) of the Lankenau Hospital Research Institute in Philadelphia, known today as the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR), which later joined the Fox Chase Cancer Center in 1974, and he held the rank of University Professor of Medicine and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania starting in 1977. Concurrently, he was Master of Balliol College from 1989 to 1994. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994. From 1999 to 2002, he was also director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) was established in 1998 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) “to develop the field of astrobiology and provide a scientific framework for flight missions.” In December 2019 the institute’s activities were suspended.

  • Bunk, Steve (1998-06-22). “Astrobiology Makes Debut Under NASA”. The Scientist. 12 (13). Faculty of 1000.
  • NASA Astrobiology Institute (August 31, 2010). “About NAI”. NASA.
  • NASA Astrobiology Institute. “The NASA Astrobiology Institute Concludes Its 20-year Tenure”. NASA. Archived from the original on 2020-06-04. Retrieved 2020-05-13. “The NASA Astrobiology Program has announced a bold new structure to mobilize the astrobiology community towards both impacting future NASA space missions and answering the fundamental questions of; How does life begin and evolve? Does life exist elsewhere in the Universe? How do we search for life in the Universe? This new approach includes a system of virtual collaboration consisting of “Research Coordination Networks” (RCNs). These RCNs are designed to enable the research community to self-organize, collaborate, communicate, and network across organizational, divisional, and geographical boundaries. This new structure will be replacing the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) as the primary mechanism to integrate the astrobiology community, and therefore the NAI will be completing its more than 20-year tenure on December 31, 2019.“

Although NASA had explored the idea of forming an astrobiology institute in the past, when the Viking biological experiments returned negative results for life on Mars, the public lost interest and federal funds for exobiology dried up. In 1996, the announcement of possible traces of ancient life in the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite from Mars led to new interest in the subject. At the same time, NASA developed the Origins Program, broadening its reach from exobiology to astrobiology, the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.

In 1998, $9 million was set aside to fund the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), an interdisciplinary research effort using the expertise of different scientific research institutions and universities from across the country, centrally linked to Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Gerald Soffen former Project Scientist with the Viking program, helped coordinate the new institute. In May, NASA selected eleven science teams, each with a Principal Investigator (PI). NAI was established in July with Scott Hubbard as interim Director. Nobel laureate Baruch S. Blumberg was appointed the first Director of the institute and served from May 15, 1999 – October 14, 2002.

Further reading

In 1992, Blumberg participated in the founding of the Hepatitis B Foundation (HBF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure for hepatitis B and improving the lives of those affected by hepatitis B worldwide. He served on the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board, and as its distinguished scholar from 1992 until his passing in 2011. Blumberg was a regular and inspirational presence at the Hepatitis Foundation, maintaining an office at the foundation in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.[citation needed]

In 2000, Blumberg received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2001, Blumberg was named to the Library of Congress Scholars Council, a body of distinguished scholars that advises the Librarian of Congress. Blumberg served on the council until his death.

In November 2004, Blumberg was named chairman of the scientific advisory board of United Therapeutics Corporation, a position he held until his death. As chairman, he convened three “Conference[s] on Nanomedical and Telemedical Technology”, as well as guiding the biotechnology company in the development of a broad-spectrum anti-viral medicine.[citation needed]

Beginning in 2005, Blumberg also served as the president of the American Philosophical Society. He had first been elected to membership in the society in 1986.

  • “In Memoriam”. amphilsoc.org. American Philosophical Society. 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2011. Baruch S. Blumberg, President of the American Philosophical Society from 2005–2011, died on April 5, 2011 at the age of 85.[permanent dead link]

In October 2010, Blumberg participated in the USA Science and Engineering Festival‘s Lunch with a Laureate program, in which middle and high school students of the Greater Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland area got to engage in an informal conversation with a Nobel Prize–winning scientist over a brown-bag lunch.

In discussing the factors that influenced his life, Blumberg always gave credit to the mental discipline of the Jewish Talmud, and as often as possible, he attended weekly Talmud discussion classes until his death.

Bioethics

Blumberg devoted his 1976 Nobel lecture to the subject of bioethics. He predicted the discovery of the Hepatitis B chronic carrier state would lead to calls for exclusion and quarantine of chronic carriers and the denial of health care. Blumberg came down solidly on the side of liberty and stated it was better not to test for the condition in medical practice. The following year, the teacher’s union in New York City moved to exclude chronic carriers from the New York school system. At the time, a number of developmentally disabled children who had been institutionalized at Willowbrook were being mainstreamed into the public schools. As part of the Willowbrook hepatitis experiments, most children had been involuntarily tested and over 50 chronic carriers had been identified. The New York Public Health department convened a panel to decide policy led by Saul Krugman; however, Blumberg with his open views, was notably excluded. The panel and school system decided to exclude all known Hepatitis B carriers from school attendance and impose compulsory blood testing on all their classmates without informed consent about the nature of the blood tests. Litigation on behalf of the excluded children reversed the policy, and Blumberg advised the excluded children’s lawyers. This set important precedent for the AIDS era.

In an interview with The New York Times in 2002 he stated that “[Saving lives] is what drew me to medicine. There is, in Jewish thought, this idea that if you save a single life, you save the whole world”.

Death

Blumberg died on April 5, 2011, shortly after giving the keynote speech at the International Lunar Research Park Exploratory Workshop held at NASA Ames Research Center. At the time of his death Blumberg was a distinguished scientist at the NASA Lunar Science Institute, located at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

Jonathan Chernoff, the scientific director at the Fox Chase Cancer Center where Blumberg spent most of his working life said, “I think it’s fair to say that Barry prevented more cancer deaths than any person who’s ever lived.” In reference to Blumberg’s discovery of the Hepatitis B vaccine, former NASA administrator Daniel Goldin said, “Our planet is an improved place as a result of Barry’s few short days in residence.”

In 2011, the Library of Congress and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the establishment of the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, a research position housed within the library’s John W. Kluge Center, which explores the effects of astrobiology research on society. The chair was named for Blumberg in recognition of his service to the Library of Congress Scholars Council, and his commitment to “research and dialogue between disciplines.”

In 2011, in recognition of Blumberg’s long professional and personal association with the department of biochemistry and the Glycobiology Institute, Oxford University established the Baruch Blumberg Professorship in Virology.

Manuscript collection

The Baruch S. Blumberg papers are held at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, PA. The collection contains 458 linear feet of materials documenting his life and career.

See also

References

  1. Highfield, Roger (April 6, 2011), “The life and times of a vaccine pioneer”, New Scientist (Obituary), archived from the original on January 18, 2018, retrieved May 4, 2022
  2. “Pennsylvania Historical Marker Search”. PHMC. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  3. “Baruch S. Blumberg – Autobiography.” Nobel Prize.“. Nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on April 29, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  4. “The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1976”.
  5. “Hepatitis B: The Hunt for a Killer Virus” Princeton University Press.. Press.princeton.edu. October 28, 2010. ISBN 9780691116235. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  6. “Jewish Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine”. www.jinfo.org. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  7. “Medicine Obituaries: Professor Baruch Blumberg”. London: The Telegraph. April 6, 2011. Archived from the original on April 27, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2011. One of three children of a lawyer, Baruch Samuel Blumberg was born on July 28, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at Far Rockaway High School in Queens, where he won a science prize after making a working refrigerator from junk parts.
  8. “Baruch Samuel Blumberg Biography (1925–)”.
  9. Early life and school – Baruch Blumberg: Physician, Web of Stories. Accessed November 25, 2015.
  10. Schwach, Howard. “Museum Tracks Down FRHS Nobel Laureates” Archived October 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, The Wave (newspaper), April 15, 2005. Accessed October 2, 2007. “Burton Richter graduated from Far Rockaway High School in 1948.”
  11. “Baruch Blumberg ’46, winner of Nobel Prize, dies”. Union College. Archived from the original on January 5, 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  12. “Barry Blumberg”. The Economist. April 28, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  13. Blumberg, B. S. (1964). “Polymorphisms of the serum proteins and the development of iso-preciptins in transfused patients”. Bull N Y Acad Med. 40 (5): 377–386. PMC 1750599. PMID 14146804.
  14. “Blumberg”. The New York Times. July 4, 2011.
  15. “Obituary: Barry Blumberg”. The Economist. April 30, 2011. p. 92.
  16. “Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B” (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
  17. “Nobel Prize Winner To Lead NASA Astrobiology Institute NASA“. Archived from the original on April 17, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  18. “”Astrobiology at T+5 Years” Ad Astra Magazine/NSS“. Spaceref.com. May 9, 2002. Archived from the original on February 21, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  19. Blumberg, B. S. (2003). “The NASA Astrobiology Institute: Early History and Organization”. Astrobiology. 3 (3): 463–470. Bibcode:2003AsBio…3..463B. doi:10.1089/153110703322610573. PMID 14678657. S2CID 14300915.
  20. “Baruch Blumberg, MD, DPhil”. Hepatitis B Foundation.
  21. “Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement”. www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  22. “Scholars Council Member – Baruch Blumberg The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress“. loc.gov. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  23. “Scientific Advisory Board”. United Therapeutics Corporation. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  24. “Unither Nanomedical & Telemedical Technology Conference”. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  25. “In Memoriam”. amphilsoc.org. American Philosophical Society. 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2011. Baruch S. Blumberg, President of the American Philosophical Society from 2005–2011, died on April 5, 2011 at the age of 85.[permanent dead link]
  26. “USA Science and Engineering Festival – Affiliate Events”. USA Science and Engineering Festival. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  27. “SETI Institute”. Seti.org. Archived from the original on May 17, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  28. Segelken, H. Roger (April 6, 2011). “Baruch Blumberg, Who Discovered and Tackled Hepatitis B, Dies at 85”. The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  29. “Background Note”. Baruch S. Blumberg Papers. American Philosophical Society Library. Mss.Ms.Coll.144. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  30. “In Memoriam Baruch S. Blumberg President of the American Philosophical Society 2005–2011”. amphilsoc.org. American Philosophical Society. Retrieved April 21, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  31. Soderman/NLSI Staff (April 6, 2011). “”Baruch Samuel Blumberg (1925–2011)” NASA Lunar Science Institute“. Lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011.
  32. Mewhinney, Michael (April 6, 2011). “”Nobel Prize Winner Baruch Blumberg Dies of Apparent Heart Attack” NASA“. Nasa.gov. Archived from the original on April 16, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  33. Emma Brown (April 6, 2011). “Nobelist Baruch Blumberg, who discovered hepatitis B, dies at 85”. The Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  34. Ron Todt (April 6, 2011). “Pa. Nobel winner Baruch Blumberg dies in Calif”. U-T San Diego. Associated Press. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  35. “Professor Baruch Blumberg”. The Daily Telegraph. London. April 6, 2011. Medicine Obituaries. Archived from the original on April 27, 2011. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  36. “Sidney Lumet, Baruch Blumberg, Roger Nichols, Edith Helm and Ishbel MacAskill” (radio broadcast). BBC Radio 4 Last Word. BBC. April 15, 2011.
  37. “NASA and Library of Congress Establish Chair in Astrobiology”. Library of Congress. November 30, 2011.
  38. “Baruch Blumberg”. Oxford Antiviral Drug Discovery Unit. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  39. “Baruch S. Blumberg Digital Exhibit”. diglib.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved July 7, 2022.

Further reading

Wikiquote has quotations related to Baruch Samuel Blumberg.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baruch Samuel Blumberg.

Academic offices
Preceded byAnthony KennyMaster of Balliol College, Oxford
1989–1994		Succeeded byColin Lucas
Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1976 Nobel Prize laureates

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