Remembering Dr. Oliver Smithies

The Health Sciences Library was saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Oliver Smithies, UNC Chapel Hill’s first full-time faculty member to win a Nobel Prize in 2007 and the School of Medicine’s Weatherspoon Eminent Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on January 10, 2017. He was 91.

The HSL had the honor of hosting a Conversation with Dr. Oliver Smithies on March 30, 2009. During this conversation, he spoke about ground breaking discoveries in science, keeping a balance in life, stem cell ethics, and winning the Nobel Prize. Over 100 students, faculty, and staff were in attendance with a Q & A session following the interview.

The UNC Libraries also hosted Dr. Smithies along with Dr. Aziz Sancar, UNC Chapel Hill’s second Nobel Prize winner, on April 5, 2016 when their Nobel Prize medals were put on a year-long display in Davis Library.

On November 7, 2016, the Oliver Smithies Research Archive website was made available. This archive includes the 150-plus notebooks Dr. Smithies kept daily of his research.

We join with the University in sending our condolences to Dr. Smithies’ wife, Dr. Nobuyo Maeda, Robert H. Wagner Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.