Portrait of Francis Peyton Rous

Birthday profile

Francis Peyton Rous

Francis Peyton Rous, American pathologist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970)

Born
October 5, 1879
Died
February 16, 1970
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1879

About Francis Peyton Rous

Francis Peyton Rous (; October 5, 1879 – February 16, 1970) was an American pathologist at the Rockefeller University known for his works in oncoviruses, blood transfusion and physiology of digestion. A medical graduate from the Johns Hopkins University, he was discouraged from becoming a practicing physician due to severe tuberculosis. After three years of working as an instructor of pathology at the University of Michigan, he became dedicated researcher at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research for the rest of his career. His discovery in 1911 that a chicken tumor was caused by a virus (later named Rous sarcoma virus) led to more discoveries and understanding of the role of viruses in the development of certain types of cancer. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in 1966, 55 years after his initial discovery and he remains the oldest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. He and Joseph R. Turner studied methods to make use of blood types for blood transfusion. During World War I, they developed a technique for preserving blood sample by using an acid, citrate. This enabled the first practical storage of blood samples for transfusion and was introduced by Oswald H. Robertson at the front line in Belgium in 1917 as the world's first blood bank. == Early life and education == Rous was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Charles Rous and Frances Anderson née Wood. He had two younger sisters.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Francis Peyton Rous timeline

  1. Francis Peyton Rous (; October 5, 1879 – February 16, 1970) was an American pathologist at the Rockefeller University known for his works in oncoviruses, blood transfusion and physiology of digestion.
  2. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in 1966, 55 years after his initial discovery and he remains the oldest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.

The world when Francis Peyton Rous was born

Francis Peyton Rous was born in 1879. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineThomas Edison demonstrates practical incandescent light bulb
  • Technology milestoneEdison's light bulb — practical electric lighting
  • Notable inventionSaccharin (artificial sweetener) discovered
  • World population~1.39 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRutherford B. Hayes
  • U.S. population45.9M

1879 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Francis Peyton Rous's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18792026
Population45.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.