Howard L. Bachrach's career achievments, including the National Medal of Science in 1983, relate to his pioneering research in the molecular biology of viruses.

Bachrach was awarded the National Medal of Science for his work in molecular virology and his role in developing gene-splicing techniques. He has also been awarded a USDA Certificate of Merit (1960), a U.S. Presidential Citation (1965), the AAAS-Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1982), the USDA Distinguished Service Award (1982), and the Alexander von Humboldt Award (1983). He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1982 and to the USDA's Agricultural Research Service's Science Hall of Fame in 1987.

After earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1942, Bachrach chose to specialize in organic chemistry and biochemistry. Bachrach spent the war years doing research on the development of chemical explosives and then was sent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to Denmark to learn more...