Portrait of Oswald Avery

Birthday profile

Oswald Avery

Oswald Avery, Canadian-American physician and microbiologist (died 1955)

Born
October 21, 1877
Died
February 2, 1955
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1877

About Oswald Avery

Oswald Theodore Avery Jr. (October 21, 1877 – February 20, 1955) was a Canadian-American physician and medical researcher. The major part of his career was spent at the Rockefeller Hospital in New York City. Avery was one of the first molecular biologists and a pioneer in immunochemistry, but he is best known for the experiment (published in 1944 with his co-workers Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty) that isolated DNA as the material of which genes and chromosomes are made. The Nobel laureate Arne Tiselius said that Avery was the most deserving scientist not to receive the Nobel Prize for his work, though he was nominated for the award throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. The lunar crater Avery was named in his honor. He discovered a way to make thin paper that could be printed on both sides. Ernest became sick and did not continue, but Oswald pushed onward. Avery was one of the first molecular biologists and a pioneer in immunochemistry, but he is best known for the experiment that isolated DNA as the material of which genes and chromosomes are made.

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

The world when Oswald Avery was born

Oswald Avery was born in 1877. 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 headlineReconstruction ends — federal troops leave the South
  • Technology milestoneThomas Edison invents the phonograph
  • Notable inventionPhonograph — talking machine
  • World population~1.57B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRutherford B. Hayes
  • U.S. population44.2M

1877 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Oswald Avery's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18772026
Population44.2M341 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.