Paul Berg

Paul Berg
Paul Berg in 1980
Born	June 30, 1926 (1926-06-30) Brooklyn, New York
Nationality	U.S.
Fields	Biochemistry
Institutions	Stanford University Washington University in St. Louis
Alma mater	Case Western Reserve University Pennsylvania State University
Known for	recombinant DNA
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1980)

Paul Berg (born June 30, 1926) is an American biochemist (a person who studies chemistry in living things). He was given the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recognized their contributions to basic research on nucleic acids.

Berg received his undergraduate education at Penn State University, where he majored in biochemistry. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University in 1952.

After 1959 Berg worked at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. There he taught biochemistry from 1959 until 2000. He served as director of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine from 1985 until 2000. He is now professor emeritus at Stanford University.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Berg was given with the National Medal of Science in 1983 and the National Library of Medicine Medal in 1986.

Berg is famous for his pioneering work involving recombinant DNA, the process of inserting DNA from another species into a molecule, leading to the development of modern genetic engineering. After developing the technique, Berg used it for his studies of viral genomes.