Introduction
Ira Herskowitz (July 14, 1946 – April 28, 2003) was an American geneticist. He was noted for his work on cellular differentiation.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology, and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in 1971. He taught at the University of Oregon.He moved to University of California, San Francisco in 1981, where he headed the Herskowitz lab. He is credited with popularizing the phrase "the awesome power of yeast genetics" as well as being the first to use a bar sign in a pathway diagram to denote a negative influence.
He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2002, the National Academy of Sciences in 1986. He died in San Francisco, California on April 28, 2003 of pancreatic cancer.
James D. Watson said after his passing:
He was one of the people who made U.C.S.F. the most exciting place in the world for a younger scientist to be. A talk by Ira was always fun to listen to. And he approached science with a certain degree of idealism."
Awards
- 1985 NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing of the National Academy of Sciences.
- 1987 MacArthur Fellows Program
- 1988 Genetics Society of America Medal
- 2002 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal
- 2002 Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research.