Entity | Robert L. Sinsheimer

Sinsheimer (1920- ). Biophysicist. California Institute of Technology.

From the description of Papers. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80830846

Robert L. Sinsheimer was born the second of three brothers in Washington, D.C. in 1920, but he grew up in Chicago. He was one of the first graduates of M.I.T.'s biophysics undergraduate program in 1941. Sinsheimer stayed on for graduate study in biophysics, earning his Ph.D. in 1948 after spending the war years (1942-45) as a researcher at M.I.T.'s Radiation Laboratory. Due to the difficulty in finding a university position in biophysics, Sinsheimer took a one-year postdoc at M.I.T. before accepting a faculty position in the physics department at Iowa State College in 1949. He spent a six-month sabbatical in 1953 at Caltech, working on genetics with Max Delbrück. Back at Iowa State, Sinsheimer established his reputation as a biologist by isolating the important virus, X 174, and developing procedures for its use to study genetics.

Sinsheimer accepted a faculty position at Caltech in 1957 and played a major part in Caltech's 75th year symposium in 1966. He became Chair of the Division of Biological Sciences in 1968, a position which he held until 1977. During his tenure as Chair, Sinsheimer became involved in the public debate over recombinant DNA technology. In 1977, he left Caltech in order to become Chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz. He held this post until 1987, at which time he accepted a position as a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at UC, Santa Barbara. He became professor emeritus in 1990.

From the guide to the Robert L. Sinsheimer Papers, 1952-1976, (California Institute of Technology. Archives.)