biology

Leonard Herzenberg

Leonard Herzenberg is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Leonard Herzenberg rather than just read about it. In short: Leonard Arthur "Len" Herzenberg (November 5, 1931 – October 27, 2013) was an immunologist, geneticist and professor at Stanford University. His contributions to the development of cell biology made it possible to sort viable cells by their specific properties.

Key takeaways

Leonard Herzenberg belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Leonard Herzenberg to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Leonard Herzenberg from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Leonard Arthur "Len" Herzenberg (November 5, 1931 – October 27, 2013) was an immunologist, geneticist and professor at Stanford University. His contributions to the development of cell biology made it possible to sort viable cells by their specific properties.

Early life and education Herzenberg was born in New York City, on November 5, 1931 to a Jewish family. He received his bachelor's degree in 1952 from Brooklyn College in biology and chemistry. In 1955, he received his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology in biochemistry with a specialization in immunology for studies on cytochrome in Neurospora.

Career After school he was a postdoctoral fellow at the American Cancer Society, working in France at the Pasteur Institute. He returned to the United States in 1957 and worked for the National Institutes of Health as an officer in the Public Health Service department. He started working at Stanford in 1959. He eventually earned the title Professor of Genetics. Herzenberg and his wife, Leonore Herzenberg, ran the Herzenberg Laboratory at Stanford together In 1970 they developed the fluorescence-activated cell sorter which revolutionized immunology and cancer biology, and is the basis for purification of adult stem cells. When receiving the Kyoto Prize for this work in 2006, Leonard Herzenberg's only regret was "I only wish it were possible to be shared with my wife and lifelong colleague, Leonore Herzenberg." During a sabbatical in the laboratory of Cesar Milstein between 1976 and 1977, Herzenberg coined the term hybridoma for hybrid cells that result from the fusion of B cells and myeloma cells.

Personal life The daughter of Len and Lee Herzenberg, Jana Herzen, is a singer-songwriter and the founder of Motéma Music. Len Herzenberg died on October 27, 2013, aged 81.

Awards and honours Herzenberg received a range of honours and awards during his life including:

1998 American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award 2002 Edwin F. Ullman Award, American Association of Clinical Chemistry 2004 Special Novartis Prize for Immunology (the only winner of this award) 2005 Abbott Laboratories Award in Clinical and Diagnostic Immunology, American Society for Microbiology 2006 Kyoto award for his work in cell biology; 2007 Ceppellini Award, International Foundation for Research in Experimental Medicine, with his wife Lee Herzenberg for "their internationally recognized contributions to medicine" 2013 ABRF Annual Award for Outstanding Contributions to Biomolecular Technologies

References

External links "Leonard Arthur Herzenberg" Inamori Foundation Kyoto Award; Leonard Herzenberg's homepage at Stanford at the Wayback Machine (archived March 19, 2005); Pincock, Stephen (9 June 2006) "Herzenberg wins Kyoto Prize" The Scientist: Magazine of the Life Sciences 2006(June 9): ; "A Conversation with Leonard and Leonore Herzenberg"

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Leonard Herzenberg

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Leonard Herzenberg claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Leonard Herzenberg before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Leonard Herzenberg ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Leonard Herzenberg

In research: Leonard Herzenberg appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Leonard Herzenberg in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Leonard Herzenberg is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1931 births, 2013 deaths, 20th-century Jewish medical doctors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Leonard Herzenberg outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Leonard Herzenberg in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Leonard Herzenberg means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Leonard Herzenberg out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Leonard Herzenberg in simple terms?

Why does Leonard Herzenberg matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Leonard Herzenberg?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Leonard Herzenberg.