Luria devoted much of his career to studying bacteriophages — viruses that invade and kill bacteria. In 1969, he shared a Nobel Prize with his colleagues for their insights into the replication mechanism and genetic structure of these viruses. He also was the founding director of the Center for Cancer Research at MIT, where researchers discovered mRNA splicing and isolated oncogenes. During his career, he published over 150 scientific articles, numerous essays and editorials, and four books.

Photo credit: Marc PoKempner, the MIT Museum, and the National Library of Medicine