Paul Zamecnik was one of the first scientists to explore the field of genetics. Beginning his work shortly after the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was discovered in 1953, Zamecnik was the first to describe how the micromachinery of each cell turns the genetic code of DNA into the proteins that build cells and make them work. His groundbreaking research, spanning more than 60 years, opened up vast new areas of inquiry in genetics and pharmaceuticals, especially the hunt for "gene therapy" and drugs that work on the genetic level.

Son of a Musical Family

Zamecnik was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 22, 1912. His grandfather was a bandleader and composer who had emigrated from Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic, to Cleveland, where there was a significant population of what were then known as Bohemians. Zamecnik (pronounced ZAM-es-nick) remembers sitting on his father's shoulders as his grandfather's marching...