Skip to main content

Esther Lederberg changed our understanding of how bacteria breed

A year later, at a post-war symposium at Cold Spring Harbor, which focused on heredity and variation in microorganisms, she met Joshua Lederberg. The pair married on December 13, 1946. To celebrate, the newlyweds attended a lecture on the mutagenic effects of nitrogen mustards—toxic chemicals designed for warfare, some of which were also tested as cancer treatments. Eventually, they settled down together at the University of Wisconsin (now the University of Wisconsin-Madison) where they both focused on bacterial genetics.