Esther Lederberg

Biography

Esther Lederberg made foundational discoveries in bacterial genetics, including the discovery of lambda phage (a virus that infects bacteria) and the invention of replica plating, a technique still used in microbiology labs worldwide. Despite these breakthrough contributions, the 1958 Nobel Prize for work on bacterial genetics was awarded only to her husband Joshua Lederberg. Her techniques remain essential tools in genetics and molecular biology research.

埃丝特·莱德伯格在细菌遗传学方面做出了奠基性发现，包括发现λ噬菌体（一种感染细菌的病毒）和发明复制平板法——一种至今仍在全世界微生物学实验室使用的技术。尽管她做出了突破性贡献，1958年细菌遗传学方面的诺贝尔奖仅授予了她的丈夫约书亚·莱德伯格。她的技术至今仍是遗传学和分子生物学研究的基本工具。

Key Achievements

• Discovered lambda phage

  发现λ噬菌体

• Invented replica plating technique

  发明复制平板法

• Foundational contributions to bacterial genetics

  对细菌遗传学做出奠基性贡献

References & Citations

1. Wikipedia: Esther Lederberg — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Lederberg
2. Stanford University archives