Carl Woese
American microbiologist · United States · On the map · Academics · Lived 1928 to 2012 · aged 84
Carl Richard Woese was an American microbiologist and biophysicist. Woese is famous for defining the Archaea in 1977 through a pioneering phylogenetic taxonomy of 16S ribosomal RNA, a technique that has revolutionized microbiology. He also originated the RNA world hypothesis in 1967, although not by that name.
Carl Woese is read about 120 times a day, in 36 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A life in dates
2012Died30 December 20122006Foreign Member of the Royal SocietyAward2003Crafoord Prize in BiosciencesAward2000National Medal of ScienceAward1997Selman A. Waksman Award in MicrobiologyAward1992Leeuwenhoek MedalAward1984MacArthur Fellows ProgramAward1928Born15 July 1928
Also in Deutsch
Media & music
![Phylogenetic tree based on Woese et al. rRNA analysis. The vertical line at bottom represents the last universal common ancestor (LUCA).[4]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/PhylogeneticTree%2C_Woese_1990.PNG/1280px-PhylogeneticTree%2C_Woese_1990.PNG)
Awards
About this person
Woese held the Stanley O. Ikenberry Chair and was professor of microbiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Country
United States
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
Deceased
Dates
Lived 1928 to 2012 · aged 84
