Hamilton O. Smith | |
|---|---|
 Smith in 2012 | |
| Born | (1931-08-23)August 23, 1931 New York City, U.S |
| Died | October 25, 2025(2025-10-25) (aged 94) Ellicott City, Maryland, U.S. |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley, BA Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, MD |
| Known for | Restriction enzymes |
| Awards | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular biology,biochemistry,genomics |
| Institutions | Washington University School of Medicine |
Hamilton Othanel Smith (August 31, 1931 – October 25, 2025) was an Americanmicrobiologist and Nobel laureate.[1][2]
Hamilton Othanel Smith was born inNew York City on August 31, 1931[3][4] and grew up in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.[5]
Smith graduated fromUniversity Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois. He attended theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but in 1950 transferred to theUniversity of California, Berkeley, where he earned hisB.A. in Mathematics in 1952. He received his medical degree fromJohns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1956.[5] Between 1956 and 1957 Smith worked for theWashington University in St. Louis Medical Service.
During the next few years he undertook US Navy military service as well as a medical residency atHenry FordHospital.[5] Hamilton then went to theUniversity of Michigan in Ann Arbor on a USNational Institutes of Health fellowship where he worked with infectuous disease expert,Myron M. Levine.[5]
In 1975, he was awarded aGuggenheim Fellowship he spent at theUniversity of Zurich.
In 1970, Smith and Kent W. Wilcox discovered the first type IIrestriction enzyme,[6] which is now known as HindII.[1] Smith went on to discover DNAmethylases that constitute the other half of the bacterial host restriction and modification systems, as hypothesized byWerner Arber of Switzerland.[1]
Smith was awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for discovering type IIrestriction enzymes withWerner Arber andDaniel Nathans as co-recipients.
He later became a leading figure in the nascent field ofgenomics, when in 1995 he and a team atThe Institute for Genomic Research sequenced the firstbacterialgenome, that ofHaemophilus influenzae.[7]H. influenza was the same organism in which Smith had discovered restriction enzymes in the late 1960s. He subsequently played a key role in the sequencing of many of the early genomes at The Institute for Genomic Research, and in the assembly of thehuman genome atCelera Genomics, which he joined when it was founded in 1998.
Smith later directed a team at theJ. Craig Venter Institute that worked towards creating a partiallysynthetic bacterium,Mycoplasma laboratorium. In 2003 the same group synthetically assembled the genome of a virus,Phi X 174bacteriophage. Smith was scientific director of privately heldSynthetic Genomics, which was founded in 2005 byCraig Venter to continue this work. Synthetic Genomics is working to producebiofuels on an industrial-scale using recombinantalgae and other microorganisms.[8]
Smith was married to Liz Smith until her death and they had five children.[4] They also had 12 grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren. One son preceded him in death.[4]
Smith was diagnosed withlymphoma in 2016.[9] He died at his home inEllicott City, Maryland, on October 25, 2025, at the age of 94.[4]
This article incorporates CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference[1]
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