For his "discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies," Gerald M. Edelman and his associate Rodney Porter received the 1972 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. During a lecture Edelman gave upon acceptance of the prize, he stated that immunology "provokes unusual ideas, some of which are not easily come upon through other fields of study.... For this reason, immunology will have a great impact on other branches of biology and medicine." He was to prove his own prediction correct by using his discoveries to draw conclusions not only about the immune system but about the nature of consciousness as well.

Born in New York City to Edward Edelman, a physician, and Anna Freedman Edelman, Gerald Maurice Edelman attended New York City public schools through high school. After graduating, he entered Ursinus College, in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, where he received his B.S. in chemistry in 1950. Four years later, he...