Herschel L. Roman

Who was Herschel L. Roman?

Herschel Lewis Roman was a geneticist famous for popularizing the use of yeast in genetic research.

Roman was born in Szumsk in eastern Poland on September 29, 1914. His father had moved to the United States, intending to bring Herschel and his mother, but they were not able to travel until 1921 because of World War I. After that, he spent his early years in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, then in St. Louis, where they had sent Herschel in advance to provide him with an urban high school education. He enrolled at the University of Missouri in 1932 and, majoring in chemistry and minoring in physics, graduated in 1936. During his senior year, he met Lewis Stadler. For his graduate studies, Roman became Stadler's graduate student and switched to genetics.

In 1942 Roman received his Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Missouri, moved to Seattle in September, and joined the faculty of the Department of Botany at the University of Washington, where he stayed for the rest of his career. Around 1944, during World War II, he entered the Army Air Force, became a captain, and then returned to the University of Washington in 1946.