James V. Neel was a scientist, clinician, and teacher in the field of Genetics. His accomplishments span over half a decade and include such diverse issues as the genetic basis of sickle cell anemia and the effects of atomic radiation on humans.

James Neel was born in Ohio in 1915, and attended the College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, where he received his Bachelor's of Arts degree in 1935. Under the tutelage of Dr. Curt Stern, Neel studied Drosophila genetics and was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, in 1939. After teaching briefly at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, he moved to Columbia University where he had a National Research Council Fellowship in Zoology. He then returned to the University of Rochester, where he had been accepted into medical school and completed his M.D. in 1944, followed by a one-year internal medicine internship at Strong Memorial Hospital...