Daniel Nathans is best known for his work with restriction enzymes, which are used to cut or break DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules. This technique, first applied to gene study by Nathans, led the way in studying the structure of viruses and opened the door for recombinant DNA research and genetic mapping. His work was recognized in 1978, when he shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Werner Arber and Hamilton O. Smith.

Nathans was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the last of nine children born to Samuel and Sarah Nathans, Russian Jewish immigrants. Nathans received his B.A. from the University of Delaware in 1950 and his M.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1954. It was during the summer after his first year of medical school that Nathans had his initial exposure to laboratory work.

After medical school, Nathans completed a one-year internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center...