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Preferred Citation note
Bibliography
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Scope and Contents note
Title: Hamilton O. Smith papers
Identifier/Call Number: MS 002
Contributing Institution:
J. Craig Venter Institute Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
17.5 Linear feet
(40 manuscript boxes)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1965-2005
Date (inclusive): 1950-2012
Abstract: Scientific papers of Hamilton O. Smith, microbiologist and Nobel laureate for his discovery of TypeII restriction enzymes
and the sequence of its cleavage sites. He is the co-recipient of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Werner
Arber and Daniel Nathans for the discovery of “restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics”.
The papers document Smith’s professional career from his appointment at the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University
to his most recent position as Scientific Director of Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy at the J. Craig Venter Institute. Materials
include correspondence, laboratory and research notes, committee appointments, scientific subject files, photographs, and
writings by Smith.
creator:
Smith, Hamilton O.
Access
This collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the
creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify
and hold harmless the J. Craig Venter Institute, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any
person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Processing history
Processed by Chrystal Carpenter, 2013
Preferred Citation note
Hamilton O. Smith papers (MS 002), J. Craig Venter Institute.
Bibliography
Hamilton Othanel Smith was born in New York City on August 23, 1931 to parents Bunnie Othanel Smith and Tommie Naomi Harkey.
By 1937 he and his family relocated to Champaign-Urbana Illinois where his father joined the faculty of the Department of
Education at the University of Illinois. He graduated from the University Laboratory High School in Urbana (Uni-High) in 1948
where he matriculated at the University of Illinois and transferred to University of California, Berkeley in 1950. In 1952
he received an A.B degree in mathematics from UC Berkeley. He went on to obtain his M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University
in 1956. Later that year he married Elizabeth Anne Bolton, they went on to have four sons and one daughter.
In 1957 he was called up for the Doctor’s Draft and he spent two years with the Navy in San Diego, California. He left military
service in 1959 and moved to Michigan where he continued his clinical work in medicine. In 1962 he joined the Department of
Human Genetics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he carried out research on Salmonella phage P22 lysogeny.
In 1967 he took a position as Assistant Professor of Microbiology at Johns Hopkins University. At Hopkins his research work
included the study of restriction and modification enzymes, enzymology of genetic recombination, mechanism of bacterial transformation,
and genetic regulation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In 1968 he discovered the first TypeII restriction enzyme and showed
that this enzyme cuts DNA in the middle of a specific symmetrical sequence.
In 1975-1976, as a Guggenheim Fellow he collaborated with Max Brinstiel at the University Zurich in Switzerland on histone
gene arrangement and sequence. In 1978 he, along with Werner Arber and Daniel Nathans were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine. He continued his successful career at Hopkins which lasted three decades, 1967-1998. During that time he studied
Haemophilus Influenzae including DNA methylases and nucleases in H. influenza Rd and discovered this organism’s sequence-specific
DNA uptake during genetic transformation. In 1994 he started his collaboration with J. Craig Venter at the Institute of Genomic
Research (TIGR) to sequence H. influenzae by whole genome shotgun sequencing and assembly. In 1998 he retired from Johns Hopkins
to join Venter at Celera Genomics Corporation where he participated in the sequencing of the Drosophila and human genomes.
In 2002, he left Celera and joined the newly created J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). Smith is the Scientific Director of
Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy at JCVI and has participated in the development of a synthetic version of the bacteriophage,
PhiX 174 and the first self-replicating synthetic bacterial cell Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0.
Arrangement note
This collection is organized into 10 series:
- Biographical files, 1979-1995
- Correspondence, 1962-1997 (Bulk, 1980-1997)
- Laboratory and Research Notes, 1962-1982
- Conference and Committees, 1980-2007 (Bulk, 1985-1993)
- Subject Files, 1962-1998
- Johns Hopkins University Files, 1964-1997
- The Institute for Genomic Research / J. Craig Venter Institute Files, 1980-2010
- Papers and Other Works, 1967-1997
- Photographs, 1964-1995
- Writings By Others, 1952-1995
Scope and Contents note
This archival collection documents the scientific career of noted microbiologist and Nobel Prize winner Hamilton O. Smith
from 1962 to the present. The bulk his papers represent his scientific activities from his positions at the University of
Michigan Ann Arbor and his three decade long career at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The papers also contain his early collaborations
with J. Craig Venter from the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and his leadership role at the J. Craig Venter Institute
(JCVI) from 2002 to the present. The papers largely include correspondence, laboratory and research notes, committee appointments,
grant awards and research, publications and work conducted by his postdoctoral students while at JHU, as well as drafts and
publications written or coauthored by him. Some materials of note include his work on restriction enzymes and research which
led to his 1978 Nobel Prize while at Hopkins. As well as his more recent work with TIGR and JCVI including genome sequencing
documentation (including his DNA libraries), the Haemophilus influenzae patent, and correspondence relating to Mycoplasma
mycoides JCVI-syn1.0.
The collection is organized by topic and/or material type. The original naming conventions for the folders have been kept
when ever possible. The Biographical files include curricula vitae, bibliographies, and information about Smith; the Correspondence
includes incoming and outgoing correspondence from various individuals in the scientific community as well as from fans of
his work, often correspondents included reprints of their work which can also be found within the correspondence series; Laboratory
and research notes include research files, data, photographs, and illustrations on various scientific endeavors; Conference
and Committee files include conference presentations and committee appointments; Subject files include documentation on specific
scientific subjects as well as grants submitted while at JHU, materials relating to the Nobel Prize, and patent consulting;
Johns Hopkins University files include budgets, committee work, postdoctoral students information and reprints, and teaching
files; the Institute for Genomic Research and J. Craig Venter Institute TIGR/JCVI files include research, DNA libraries, grant
applications, and sequencing projects related to his collaborations and work with TIGR/JCVI; Papers and other works include
article drafts, typescripts, and reprints authored and coauthored by Smith; Photographs include images of Smith, the Nobel
Prize, and research slides; Writings by others primarily includes reprints and typescript drafts collected or given to Smith
by various scientists and postdoctoral students from Johns Hopkins. See scope and content note under each series listing for
detailed information regarding organization.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Institute for Genomic Research.
J. Craig Venter Institute.
Johns Hopkins University. School of Medicine.
Nathans, Daniel
Venter, J. Craig
Bacterial genomes
DNA -- Research -- History
Endonucleases
Genomics
Haemophilus influenzae
History of science and technology
Negatives (photographic)
Nobel Prize winners
Photographs
Restriction enzymes, DNA
Slides (photographs)
Synthetic biology