Guido Pontecorvo - Biography

Guido Pontecorvo ForMemRS (29 November 1907, Pisa, Italy – 25 September 1999) was an Italian-born geneticist.

Career

He fled to Britain in 1938.

• Institute of Animal Genetics, University of Edinburgh, 1938-40 and 1944-45
• Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, 1941-44
• Dept of Genetics, University of Glasgow, 1945-68 (Professor 1956-68)
• Honorary Director, MRC Unit of Cell Genetics, 1966-68
• Member of research staff, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, 1968-75
• Honorary Consultant Geneticist, ICRF, 1975-80

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1955.

He was one of eight children. He was a brother to Gillo Pontecorvo and Bruno Pontecorvo.

Legacy

The current genetics building at the University of Glasgow is named in honour of Guido Pontecorvo. The Pontecorvo Building is part of the Anderson College complex located on Dumbarton Road in the West End of Glasgow. It houses one of the few working Paternoster elevators in the UK.

He has also lent his name to the annual Pontecorvo award, presented to the most promising genetics student in the department.

Past Winners:

2003 - Robert Irving
2004 - John Rowell
2009 - Stuart Meiklejohn
2010 - Angela Wilson