Julius Marmur

Who was Julius Marmur?

Julius Marmur was an American molecular biologist who made significant contributions to DNA research. His discovery, while working in the laboratory of Paul Doty at Harvard University, that the denaturation of DNA was reversible and depended on salt- and GC-content, had a major impact on how scientists thought about DNA, and how DNA could be handled in vitro; this discovery was a cornerstone of the recombinant DNA revolution. Marmur spent most of his professional career at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, medical school in the Bronx, NY affiliated with Yeshiva University.

In a historical context, Marmur's research can be seen as bridging the work of the 1940s and 1950s, as exemplified by Rollin Hotchkiss, with the work of the 1970s and beyond.

AECOM, while supporting an annual symposium in Marmur's honor, does not list his biography on their web site. A standard work on the history of molecular biology, such as Horace Freeland Judson's The eighth day of creation, may be consulted.