About Alfred Hershey
Alfred Day Hershey (December 4, 1908 – May 22, 1997) was an American Nobel Prize–winning bacteriologist and geneticist. == Early years == Hershey was born in Owosso, Michigan to Robert Day and Alma Wilbur Hershey. He earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1930, and Ph.D. in bacteriology in 1934 from Michigan State University. Shortly after, Hershey accepted a faculty position at Washington University in St. Louis, serving as an instructor of bacteriology and immunology from 1934 to 1950. == Bacteriophage research == At Washington University, Hershey worked closely with department head Jacques Bronfenbrenner to investigate bacteriophages, or phages—viruses that infect and replicate inside bacteria. Hershey's work on the factors impacting the virus' ability to infect its targets brought him to the attention of fellow phage researchers Max Delbrück and Salvador Luria. === The Phage Group === In 1943, Delbrück invited Hershey to Vanderbilt University to discuss his phage research. Together, with Luria, they would form the core of an informal network of researchers called "the Phage group". Three years later, Hershey and Delbrück would independently discover that different strains of bacteriophage can both exchange genetic material when infecting the same bacterial cell.
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