Don Craig Wiley Explained

Birth Date:21 October 1944
Birth Place:Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Death Place:Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Alma Mater:Tufts University
Harvard University
Thesis Title:The 5.5 ⁰A structure of the regulatory enzyme, aspartate transcarbamylase
Thesis Url:http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990040114880203941/catalog
Thesis Year:1972
Doctoral Advisor:William N. Lipscomb, Jr.
Doctoral Students:Michael Eisen[1] [2] [3]

Pamela J. Bjorkman

Spouse:Katrin Valgeirsdottir
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Don Craig Wiley (October 21, 1944  - November 15, 2001) was an American structural biologist.[4] [5] [6] [7]

Education

Wiley received his doctoral degree in biophysics in 1971 from Harvard University, where he worked under the direction of the subsequent 1976 chemistry Nobel Prize winner William N. Lipscomb, Jr.[8] There, Wiley did early work on the structure of aspartate carbamoyltransferase, the largest molecular structure determined at that time.[9] Noteworthy in this effort was that Wiley managed to grow crystals of aspartate carbamoyltransferase suitable for obtaining its X-ray structure, a particularly difficult task in the case of this molecular complex.

Career and research

Wiley was world-renowned for finding new ways to help the human immune system battle such viral scourges as smallpox, influenza, HIV/AIDS and herpes simplex.

Famous quote: "I'm sorry, but I just don't understand anything in biology unless I know what it looks like."[10]

Awards and honors

In 1990, he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University. His research was honored with the 1993 Cancer Research Institute William B. Coley Award. Harvard called Wiley "one of the most influential biologists of his generation." In 1999, Wiley and another Harvard professor, Jack L. Strominger, won the Japan Prize for their discoveries of how the immune system protects humans from infections.[11]

Personal life

Wiley owned a British racing green-colored Aston Martin.

He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[12] the National Academy of Sciences,[13] and the American Philosophical Society.[14]

Disappearance and death

Wiley disappeared on November 15, 2001. The official coroner's report stated that Wiley died after falling off a bridge near Memphis, Tennessee; his body was found in the Mississippi River downstream in Vidalia, Louisiana a month later and his death was ruled to be an accident.[15] [16] [17] Shelby County Medical Examiner, Dr. O. C. Smith, conducted the investigation into Wiley's death.[18] [19] Smith was quoted by a Boston Magazine article by Doug Most, which states: "Of all the measurements Smith took, one stood out: 8 inches. That's how narrow the curb is from the road to the railing, which is only 43 inches high. 'If he stood against the rail, it's hitting him in the back of the thigh,' Smith says. 'If he's startled or caught by a gust from an 18-wheeler, his center of gravity is 47 inches, near the top rail, below his hip.'"[18] A 43" rail hitting a person in the back of the thigh would require a person to have an inseam of 41–44 inches. An inseam of 40 inches is recommended for persons 6' 11" to over 7' tall.[20]

Wiley was 6'3" and weighed 160 pounds, according to the Los Angeles Times.[21]

See also

Notes and References

  1. PhD. Michael Bruce . Eisen. Structural Studies of Influenza A Virus Proteins. Harvard University . 1996. Michael Eisen. 48938206.
  2. 9185585. 1997. Eisen. M. B.. Binding of the influenza a virus to cell-surface receptors: Structures of five hemagglutinin-sialyloligosaccharide complexes determined by X-ray crystallography. Virology. 232. 1. 19–31. Sabesan. S. Skehel. J. J. . John Skehel. Wiley. D. C.. 10.1006/viro.1997.8526. free.
  3. 7937734. 1994. Eisen. M. B.. HOOK: A program for finding novel molecular architectures that satisfy the chemical and steric requirements of a macromolecule binding site. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Genetics. 19. 3. 199–221. Wiley. D. C.. Karplus. M. Hubbard. R. E.. 10.1002/prot.340190305. 10765110.
  4. 11823846. 2002. Ploegh. H. L. . Hidde Ploegh. Obituary: Don Craig Wiley (1944-2001). Nature. 415. 6871. 492. 10.1038/415492a. 2002Natur.415..492P. free.
  5. 11812980. 2002. Strominger. J. L.. Don Craig Wiley (1944-2001): A reminiscence. Nature Immunology. 3. 2. 103–4. 10.1038/ni0202-103. 6362947.
  6. Web site: Don C. Wiley (1944 - 2001) Memorial website of the Wiley laboratory. https://web.archive.org/web/20140810161604/https://crystal.harvard.edu/wiley.html. 2014-08-10. Harvard University.
  7. 10.1034/j.1600-6143.2002.20515.x. Don Craig Wiley (1944-2001). American Journal of Transplantation. 2. 5. 480. 2002. Lechler . R. . free.
  8. http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/01.10/08-wiley.html Harvard Gazette: Biologist Don C. Wiley, 1944-2001
  9. Web site: Sondra. Schlesinger. Oral history: Don Wiley. 1999 . Viruses: From structure to biology. American Society for Virology. 2013-11-15.
  10. Web site: Ploegh. Hidde L.. Don C. Wiley: A Tribute. Harvard University Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. 2017-03-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20170328021439/http://labs.mcb.harvard.edu/DonWiley/Ploegh.html. 2017-03-28. dead.
  11. News: Authorities Search For Missing Harvard Virus Specialist . Fox News . 24 November 2001.
  12. Web site: Don Craig Wiley . 16 December 2021 . . en.
  13. Web site: Don C. Wiley . 16 December 2021 . www.nasonline.org.
  14. Web site: APS Member History . 16 December 2021 . search.amphilsoc.org.
  15. News: Obituary: Professor Don C. Wiley, 1944-2001 . 21 December 2001 . Office of news and public affairs . Harvard University . 15 November 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090504083749/http://www.news.harvard.edu/specials/2001/wiley/wileyobit.html . 4 May 2009.
  16. News: Professor Don C. Wiley, 1944-2001 . 15 January 2002 . Office of news and public affairs . Harvard University . 15 November 2013.
  17. News: Harvard Biologist's Death Ruled Accidental . 15 November 2013 . . 15 January 2002.
  18. News: What Happened to Don Wiley? . 15 May 2006 . Boston Magazine . Metrocorp . 25 February 2023 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230225234940/https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2006/05/15/what-happened-to-don-wiley/ . 25 February 2023.
  19. News: Official Theory on Biochemist's Death . 14 January 2002 . Science Magazine . AAAS . 25 February 2023 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230226003343/https://www.science.org/content/article/official-theory-biochemists-death. 26 February 2023.
  20. News: Size Guides . 25 February 2023 . 2Tall . 25 February 2023.
  21. article " A Scientist’s Mystery" by Jeffrey Gettleman and Elizabeth Mehren, Nov. 30, 2001