Alick Isaacs
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{{Infobox scientist
| name = Alick Isaacs
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1921|07|17}}
| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1967|01|26|1921|07|17}}
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| fields = Virology
| workplaces = National Institute for Medical Research
| alma_mater = University of Glasgow
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| awards = Fellow of the Royal Society{{Cite journal | last1 = Andrewes | first1 = C. H. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1967.0010 | title = Alick Isaacs 1921-1967 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 13 | pages = 204–226 | year = 1967 | s2cid = 72252280 }}
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Alick Isaacs FRS (17 July 1921 – 26 January 1967) was a Scottish virologist.
Background and early life
Isaacs's Jewish paternal grandparents came from Lithuania to escape oppression, and took the surname Isaacs. Alick's father Louis was born in 1890. His parents moved to Wigan and then to the Gorbals area of Glasgow{{cite journal |last1=Andrewes |first1=Christopher Howard |title=Alick Isaacs, 1921-1967 |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsbm.1967.0010 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |pages=204–221 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.1967.0010 |date=1 November 1967|volume=13 |s2cid=72252280 |url-access=subscription }} where Isaacs was born.{{cite book |last1=Bruce |first1=Duncan A. |title=The Mark of the Scots: Their Astonishing Contributions to History, Science, Democracy, Literature, and the Arts |date=1998 |publisher=Citadel Press |isbn=9780806520605 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mx2WY17Zd9YC&dq=%22Alick+Isaacs%22+jewish+interferon&pg=PA214 |language=en|quote=In 1957 Alick Isaacs, born in Glasgow to Jewish parents, discovered and named interferon, an entirely new defense mechanism against viruses.}}
Professional life
Isaacs earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Glasgow in 1954.{{cite book |last1=Moticka |first1=Edward J. |title=A Historical Perspective on Evidence-Based Immunology |date=2015 |publisher=Newnes |isbn=9780123983756 |pages=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TMwAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA223 |language=en}}
In 1957 he co-discovered interferon with Swiss virologist Jean Lindenmann.{{cite news|first=Gina|last=Kolata|title=Jean Lindenmann, Who Made Interferon His Life's Work, Is Dead at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/us/jean-lindenmann-made-interferon-his-lifes-work-is-dead-at-90.html|work=The New York Times |date=22 January 2015 |accessdate=12 February 2015}} He served as the head of the Laboratory for Research on Interferon at the National Institute for Medical Research in 1964–1967.{{cite news| url=http://brainimmune.com/the-discovery-of-interferon-the-first-cytokine-by-alick-isaacs-and-jean-lindenmann-in-1957/ | title=The Discovery of Interferon, the First Cytokine, by Alick Isaacs and Jean Lindenmann in 1957| date=14 February 2009|author= D Burke| publisher=BrainImmune.com}} Joyce Taylor-Papadimitriou worked as an early career researcher in his laboratory.[http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Isaacs%2c+Alick Alick Isaacs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927232411/http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Isaacs%2c+Alick |date=27 September 2013 }}, Hutchinson Encyclopedia
Awards, death and legacy
Isaacs was awarded honours and the Bellahouston Gold Medal for his research on the influenza virus. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1966. He died in 1967, aged 45, of a brain haemorrhage.{{cite news |last1=Brent |first1=Leslie Baruch |title=Susanna Isaacs Elmhirst obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/apr/29/susanna-isaacs-elmhirst-obituary |work=The Guardian |date=29 April 2010}} He was survived by his wife, Susanna Isaacs Elmhirst, a paediatric registrar, who later became a child psychiatrist. A collection of his laboratory notes is held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.{{cite web|url=http://oculus.nlm.nih.gov/isaacs336|title=Alick Isaacs Laboratory Notebooks 1938–1965|publisher=National Library of Medicine}}
References
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Category:Scientists from Glasgow
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Scottish people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Category:National Institute for Medical Research faculty
Category:20th-century Scottish medical doctors
Category:Medical doctors from Glasgow