François Jacob (1920-2013)

French physician and biologist, born on June 17, 1920 in Nancy (Meurthe & Moselle). His father, Simon Jacob, was a businessman ; his maternal grandfather, Albert Franck served as a general officer in the French army.
1938-1940 After higher secondary education at the Lycée Carnot, Paris, planned to be a surgeon and enrolled in medical training at the Medical School of Paris ; his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.
01/07/1940 Left France for London to join the Free French Forces led by General de Gaulle, after having embarked on the Batory, at Saint-Jean-de Luz.
08/1940-09/1945 During WW II, served as a medical officer and saw many military actions, in particular those with Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division (Dakar, Gabon, Tchad, Fezzan, Lybia, Tripolitania, Tunisia, Normandy -France-) ; heavily wounded during the summer 1944, remained in the hospital Val-de-Grâce for seven months ; was awarded the Croix de la Liberation, Compagnon of the Liberation.
1945-1947 Resumed and completed his medical studies for Medical Doctorate, Paris.
27/11/1947 Married the pianist Lysiane Bloch, known as Lise ; they had four children : Pierre, twins Laurent and Odile, Henri.
1950 Turned to research in biology, because of his inability to practise surgery on account of his injuries ; entered the Pasteur Institute as a grant-holder, in the service for microbial physiology, under A. Lwoff.
1951-1970 Conducted research in bacterial Escherichia coli system ; with E. Wollman, contributed to describe how bacteria interact with bacteriophage and how they exchange part of genetic information, especially during conjugaison ; isolated a great number of recombinant strains ; demonstrated the circular structure of the bacterial chromosome and reported the existence of plasmids ; with J. Monod (from 1958), studied the mechanisms responsible for the transfer of genetic information as well as the regulatory pathway which adjust the activity and synthesis of macromolecules such as beta-galactosidase ; following the analysis of the lactose operon, Jacob and Monod proposed a series of new concepts : mRNA, regulatory genes, operons and allosteric proteins, paving the way to molecular biology ; together with Sydney Brenner (1963), formulated the hypothesis of replicon to account for certain aspects of cell division in bacteria ; since then, devoted his attention to the genetic analysis of the mechanism of cell division in bacteria.
1952-1993 Had been frequently invited to give lectures, in France (International Bacteriophage Symposium at Royaumont), and all over the world (United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, Soviet Union, Italy, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Belgium).
1954 Thesis defense for Doctorate in Science, Paris-Sorbonne, with the dissertation topic : Lysogenic bacteria and the notion of provirus.
1954-1964 Appointed as a professor in microbiology at the Pasteur Institute ; participated in the course of physiology and microbial genetics organized by J. Monod (1956).
1956 Appointed as head of laboratory, then as head of the newly created service for microbial genetics (1960), at the Pasteur Institute.
1958 Elected member of the Harvey society, New York.
1959 Together with A.B. Pardee and J. Monod, conducted research on the genetic control and cytoplasmic expression of inducibility in the synthesis of beta-galactosidase by E. coli.
1961 With E. Wollman, published Sexuality and the genetics of bacteria, Academic Press.
1962 Obtained the prize Charles-Leopold Mayer from the Academy of Sciences.
07/05/1965 Appointed as a professor in cellular genetics, at the College de France ; inaugural lecture.
14/10/1965 Together with J. Monod and A. Lwoff, F. Jacob was awarded the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine, for discoveries concerning the genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis.
1970-1993 Shifted to the study of the early stage of development in the mouse embryo using mouse teratocarcinoma as a tool ; his main goal was to analyze the regulatory circuits involved in development and cellular differentiation of the early embryo.
1974 Obtained the prize Arnold Reymond from the University of Lausanne for his works entitled Evolution and realism.
1977 Elected member at the French Academy of Sciences.
1979 Together with F. Gros and P. Royer, co-writer of the report Life science and society in response of President V. Giscard d'Estaing's request.
1981 Published The possible and the actual, a view on evolution and its mechanisms.
1982-1988 Elected as president of the Pasteur Institute's advisory board ; was awarded Grand-Croix of the Legion of Honour in 1982.
1987 Published an autobiography La Statue intérieure , translated in the United States as The Statue within.
1987-1994 Although retired, he continued to conduct research as head of the unit of cellular genetics, at the Pasteur Institute.
1996 Elected member of the French Academy.
07/1997 Elected member of the "Conseil de l'Ordre de la Libération .
19/04/2013 Died in Paris, where he had been buried ; received military honours during an official ceremony held in the Invalides (24/04/2013).
Collaborators : E.A. Adelberg, L. Alfoldi, B.N. Ames, T.F. Anderson, G. Attardi, K. Artzt, C. Babinet, J.R. Beckwith, D. Bennet, S. Benzer, T. Boon, P. Br?let, M.H. Buc-Caron, M. Buckingham, G. Buttin, A. Campbell, J.-P. Changeux, M. Cohn, H. Condamine, F. Cuzin, M. Darmon, J. Dausset, J. Davies, J.M. Dubert, P. Dubois, P. Duprey, H. Eisen, R.M. Fauve, M. Fellous, C.R. Fuerst, G. Gachelin, J. Gaillard, D.A. Goldthwait, F. Gros, J.-L. Gu?net, W. Hayes, Y. Hirota, M. Hofnung, F. Hyafil, H. Ionesco, H. Jakob, A.D. Kaiser, F. Kelly, R. Kemler, M. Kohiyama, R. Lavall?, E.S. Lennox, J.A. Levy, G. Lindahl, D. Louvard, A. Lwoff, G. Martin, J. Monod, J. Mordoh, D. Morello, T. Muramatsu, J.-F. Nicolas, A. Novick, A.B. Pardee, D. Paulin, L. Pereira da Silva, D. Perrin, N. Peyrieras, S.E. Pfeiffer, Y. Reisner, M. Riley, H. Roman, P. Royer, J.L. Rubenstein, A. Ryter, C. Sanchez, P. Schaeffer, D. Schubert, B. Shapiro, A. Siccardi, L. Siminovitch, G.S. Stent, R. Sussman, A.L. Taylor, A.M. Torriani, A. Ullman, M. Vasseur, A. Weissbach, E. Wollman, M. Yaniv.

Biographical reference tools :
- Jacob (François), Titres et travaux scientifiques, 104 p. dact., 1986.
- Jacob (François), The Statue within, Basic Book, Inc., New York.

CeRIS' Archives Division (Institut Pasteur)