Esther Lederberg

Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg (December 18, 1922 – November 11, 2006) was an American microbiologist and immunologist and pioneer of bacterial genetics. Notable contributions include the discovery of the lambda phage, the relationship between transduction and lambda phage lysogeny, the development of replica plating, and the discovery of bacterial fertility factor F. Lederberg also founded and directed the Plasmid Reference Center at Stanford University, whose collection contained plasmids of all types of genes, coding for antibiotic resistance, heavy metal resistance, virulence, conjugation, colicins, transposons, temperature sensitivity and other unknown factors. (Most of these plasmids have still not been thoroughly studied.) Esther...