biology

Thomas Huckle Weller

Thomas Huckle Weller 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 Thomas Huckle Weller rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas Huckle Weller (June 15, 1915 – August 23, 2008) was an American virologist. He, John Franklin Enders and Frederick Chapman Robbins were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954 for showing how to cultivate poliomyelitis viruses in a test tube, using a combination of human embryonic skin and muscle tissue.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Thomas Huckle Weller (June 15, 1915 – August 23, 2008) was an American virologist. He, John Franklin Enders and Frederick Chapman Robbins were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954 for showing how to cultivate poliomyelitis viruses in a test tube, using a combination of human embryonic skin and muscle tissue.

Biography Weller was born and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he graduated from Ann Arbor High School. He then went to the University of Michigan, where his father Carl Vernon Weller was a professor in the Department of Pathology. At Michigan, he studied medical zoology and received a B.S. and an M.S., with his masters thesis on fish parasites. In 1936, Weller entered Harvard Medical School, and in 1939 began working under John Franklin Enders, with whom he would later (along with Frederick Chapman Robbins) share the Nobel Prize. It was Enders who got Weller involved in researching viruses and tissue-culture techniques for determining infectious disease causes. Weller received his MD in 1940, and went to work at Children's Hospital in Boston. In 1942, during World War II, he entered the Army Medical Corps and was stationed at the Antilles Medical Laboratory in Puerto Rico, earning the rank of Major and heading the facility's Departments of Bacteriology, Virology and Parasitology. After the War, he returned to Children's Hospital in Boston, and it was there in 1947, that he rejoined Enders in the newly created Research Division of Infectious Diseases. After several leading positions, in July 1954, he was appointed head of the Tropical Public Health Department at the Harvard School of Public Health. Weller also served from 1953 to 1959 as director of the Commission on Parasitic Diseases of the American Armed Forces Epidemiological Board. In addition to his work on polio, Weller also contributed to treating schistosomiasis, and Coxsackie viruses. He was also the first to isolate the virus responsible for chickenpox.

Awards In 1954, Weller was awarded the George Ledlie prize in recognition of his research on rubella, polio and cytomegalovirus(CMV) viruses. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954 for his research on polio. In 1996 he was awarded the Walter Reed Medal from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Personal life In 1945, Weller married Kathleen Fahey, who died in 2011 aged 95. They had two sons and two daughters.

Citations Zetterström, Rolf; Lagercrantz, Hugo (2006), "J.F. Enders (1897-1985), T.H. Weller (1915-) and F.C. Robbins (1916-2003): a simplified method for the multiplication of poliomyelitis virus. Dreams of eradicating a terrifying disease.", Acta Paediatr., vol. 95, no. 9 (published Sep 2006), pp. 1026–8, doi:10.1080/08035250600900073, PMID 16938745, S2CID 30811791 Ligon, B Lee (2002), "Thomas Huckle Weller MD: Nobel Laureate and research pioneer in poliomyelitis, varicella-zoster virus, cytomegalovirus, rubella, and other infectious diseases.", Seminars in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, vol. 13, no. 1 (published Jan 2002), pp. 55–63, doi:10.1053/spid.2002.31314, PMID 12118846 Kyle, R A; Shampo, M A (1997), "Thomas Huckle Weller and the successful culture of poliovirus.", Mayo Clin. Proc., vol. 72, no. 5 (published May 1997), p. 422, doi:10.1016/s0025-6196(11)64860-x, PMID 9146683 Bendiner, E (1982), "Enders, Weller, and Robbins: the trio that 'fished in troubled waters'.", Hosp. Pract. (Off. Ed.), vol. 17, no. 1 (published Jan 1982), pp. 163, 169, 174–5 passim, doi:10.1080/21548331.1982.11698030, PMID 6295913 Sulek, K (1968), "[Nobel prizes for John F. Enders, Frederick Ch, Robbins and Thomas H. Weller in 1954 for discovery of the possibility of growing poliomyelitis virus on various tissue media]", Wiad. Lek., vol. 21, no. 24 (published Dec 15, 1968), pp. 2301–3, PMID 4303387

References

External links Thomas H. Weller on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1954 The Cultivation of the Poliomyelitis Viruses in Tissue Culture Thomas Huckle Weller papers, 1896-2007 (inclusive), 1940-1990 (bulk). H MS c357. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thomas Huckle Weller

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thomas Huckle Weller 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 Thomas Huckle Weller 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 Thomas Huckle Weller 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 Thomas Huckle Weller

In research: Thomas Huckle Weller 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 Thomas Huckle Weller 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: Thomas Huckle Weller is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1915 births, 2008 deaths, American Nobel laureates, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thomas Huckle Weller 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 Thomas Huckle Weller in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thomas Huckle Weller 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 Thomas Huckle Weller out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thomas Huckle Weller in simple terms?

Why does Thomas Huckle Weller 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 Thomas Huckle Weller?

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 Thomas Huckle Weller.