Hans Ris

Hans Ris
Born (1914-06-15)June 15, 1914
Bern, Switzerland
Died November 19, 2004(2004-11-19) (aged 90)
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Residence Madison, Wisconsin
Nationality American
Fields Zoology
Institutions University of Wisconsin-Madison
Alma mater Columbia University

Hans Ris (June 15, 1914 – November 19, 2004) was an American cytologist and pioneer electron microscopist. His studies of chromosome structure revealed the importance of non-histone proteins. He was one of the first to recognize that blue-green algae were a special type of bacteria. He coined the term genophore for prokaryote DNA to highlight its differences from the eukaryal chromosome.[1] Ris was a founding member of the ASCB and received the Distinguished Scientist Award by the Microscopy Society of America in 1983.

Biography

Hans Ris was born in Bern, Switzerland on 15 June 1914, where he also grew up. Inspired by the works of the French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre, he observed the habits of ants, wasps and bees.[2] He came to America in 1938 to work with B.H. Willier at Rochester, New York. After receiving his PhD at Columbia University he moved to Johns Hopkins and later to the laboratory of Alfred Mirsky at Rockefeller University, where he studied the structure of chromosomes. He then went to the zoology department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1949, where he started to work with electron microscopes. In 1972 he established the HVEM laboratory at Madison. He retired at age 75 but remained Emeritus Investigator of the University of Wisconsin’s Integrated Microscopy Resource Center (IMRC) and continued to work on high-resolution images of the nuclear pore complex which he used to nickname "fish trap".[3]

Hans Ris Symposium

The Integrated Microscopy Resource Center of the University of Wisconsin organizes a symposium in his honour starting in 2012. [4] As of September 2014, preparations were underway to hold it again in October 2014.[5]

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ "Genophore, chromosomes and the bacterial origin of chloroplasts". International Microbiology. Madrid. Jun 2005. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  2. ↑ "Biographical Memoir" (PDF). National Academy of Sciences. 2011. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  3. ↑ "From the trap to the basket: getting to the bottom of the nuclear pore complex". Chromosoma. 10 Jan 2006. doi:10.1007/s00412-005-0037-1. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  4. ↑ Hans Ris Symposium 2012
  5. ↑ Hans Ris Symposium 2014

External links

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