Tracy Langkilde: Remembering an impactful scientist: Penn State’s sole Nobel laureate, Paul Berg

By Tracy Langkilde, Verne M. Willaman Dean

Editor’s note:?This space is dedicated to college updates and perspectives on higher education trends from Tracy Langkilde, Verne M. Willaman Dean of the Penn State Eberly College of Science. Langkilde was named dean in October 2020, after joining the Penn State faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology in 2007 and becoming head of the department in 2016.

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of a member of the Eberly College of Science community: Paul Berg, a 1948 alumnus and Penn State’s sole Nobel Prize winner.

Berg’s impact on the science community, through his groundbreaking research involving nucleic acids, is felt by many of us every day. Beyond his scientific achievements, his presence on our campus is immense: Over the years, he has contributed to an undergraduate research fellowship, a biochemistry and two early-career professorships, two graduate fellowships and an endowment for graduate student travel. His name also graces the auditorium in our?Huck Life Sciences Building.

However, I want to highlight the most recent addition to his presence: a bench on the northwest part of campus, positioned outside the Nittany Lion Inn. The bench — which was put into place this past January — was a gift from the college to celebrate Paul’s 95th birthday and his 75 years of marriage to his wife, Mildred. Paul met Mildred while working a summer job in high school, and their love blossomed during his time as a student at Penn State. The location of the bench was chosen because Rec Hall and the Nittany Lion Inn were the site of many of their early happy times together, attending dinners and dances. When approached about the bench, Paul wrote: “Although visitors to the bench will relish the site’s ambiance, they will be unaware that nearly 80 years ago two young lovers forged a union filled with joy, adventure and purpose.”

The inscription on the bench reads: “Commemorating the love of Paul & Mildred Berg. A life filled with joy & purpose.”

More about Paul Berg's legacy

Berg was an American biochemist and Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor of Cancer Research, Emeritus, at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1980, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recognized their contributions to basic research involving nucleic acids. Berg earned many other honors, including the National Medal of Science, California Scientist of the Year, Lasker Award in Basic Science, and the National Library of Medicine Medal. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and its Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and as a foreign member of the British Royal Society and the French Academy of Sciences. Berg has served on advisory boards of the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Whitehead Institute, and others. He chaired the Human Genome Project’s National Advisory Committee.?

Berg graduated from Penn State in 1948. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve and spent his postdoctoral years in Copenhagen, Denmark, and at Washington University in St. Louis. He moved to Stanford in 1959, along with six other colleagues, to establish a biochemistry department. Berg served as its chair from 1969 until 1974 and was the director of Stanford’s Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine from 1985 until his retirement in 2000.

Mrs. Mildred “Millie” Berg (March 30, 1927-Nov. 7, 2021) was greatly admired in her own right. Her brilliant mind and kind heart matched her husband’s. They married after she completed her nurse’s training in 1947; their union celebrated nearly 75 years. She was devoted to Paul and their son, John, and to creating a home where students and colleagues were warmly welcomed. She shunned the spotlight. Mrs. Berg directed her scientific passion to the conservation, care, and protection of every sort of land and sea animal. She was an advocate and ardent supporter of the Silicon Valley Humane Society, the Marine Mammal Center, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the World Wildlife Fund.?

Berg’s advice was to “share knowledge! Collaborate! Fervently pursue the answers to your scientific questions. Discovery is exciting, and the search for learning things you don’t yet know is the adventure of a lifetime — the possibilities are endless!”

Remembering Paul Berg

A few members of our Eberly College of Science community were kind enough to share some memories of Paul as well as put into words his contributions to the biochemistry field.????????

• Wendy Hanna-Rose, department head and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, wrote: “Penn State has always been very proud to count Paul Berg among our alumni. Not only did his contributions to our fundamental understanding of life inspire our students (and our faculty when many of them were students!), but he invested back in Penn State with impactful contributions to support faculty research and students in their education. We are privileged to have benefitted from his generosity and fortunate to be able to support his legacy.”
• Paul Babitzke, Stanley R. Person Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, wrote: “Recombinant DNA technology was developed in Paul Berg's laboratory in the 1970s. The fundamental principles of cutting DNA with restriction enzymes and pasting them together with DNA ligase revolutionized the way everyone in the field of molecular biology conducts experiments. Hardly a day goes by in my laboratory that does not involve some aspect of his seminal discoveries that led to his 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry.?Additionally,?when I was a postdoc in Charles Yanofsky's lab at Stanford, he and?Paul?Berg?were fierce (friendly) tennis foes. Thus, I met?Paul?several times before or after tennis matches. He was very humble, and always happy to hear what you were doing in the lab.”
• Stephen Benkovic, Evan Pugh University Professor and Eberly Chair in Chemistry, wrote: “Paul Berg had an enormous impact in a number of areas. In particular, every time my lab takes a plasmid, introduces it into bacterium, and produces a protein, that procedure is directly attributable to Paul’s original insights. This technique is done all over the world and has allowed us to greatly understand many aspects of biochemistry, and in my own case, enzymology.”
• Philip Bevilacqua,?department head and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, wrote: “I’m very saddened to hear of the passing of Paul Berg. Paul was a brilliant scientist who revolutionized molecular biology. He was also a very generous and kind person who gave selflessly to Penn State. A number of chemistry students were honored over the years to have received the Paul Berg Prize and had the high honor of meeting Paul. He will be sorely missed. The department sends its condolences to the entire Berg family."?

I am in awe of Paul’s accomplishments — achieved through his dedication both to science and learning and to his family — and I encourage you all to think about his advice, and to strive to also live a life of “joy, adventure, and purpose.”

Sincerely,?

Tracy