卡尔·马拉莫罗斯1915—2016

Karl Maramorosch (January 16, 1915 – May 9, 2016) was an Austrian-born American virologist, entomologist, and plant pathologist. A centenarian and polyglot, he conducted research on viruses, mycoplasmas, rickettsiae, and other micro-organisms; and their transmission to plants through insect vectors in many parts of the world. He is the co-author of a textbook on techniques in virology and is the author of numerous papers on the biology and ecology of plant viruses, their hosts, and vectors. He received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in 1980 for his contribution to the study of crop pathogens.

Early life and education

Maramorosch was born in Vienna on January 16, 1915, where his family had escaped to from Soroki present day Moldova, during the World War I. His family was Jewish. His Polish father was a graduate of the Vienna Agricultural University. His mother was from Croatia and she was a gifted pianist who could speak German, Italian, French, Serbo-Croat and English. Along with his siblings he spoke to his father in Polish and in German with his mother. He grew up in Kołomyja, Poland (now Ukraine) where he attended primary and secondary schools (Gimnazjum Kazimierza Jagiellończyka) and from age of seven took piano lessons for twelve years, graduating from the Moniuszko Conservatory in Stanisławów (Ivano-Frankivsk) in 1934.

Career

In 1947, age 32 years, he and his wife emigrated via Czechoslovakia, France and Sweden to the United States. Maramorosch entered Columbia University while working as a technician at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. In 1949, he obtained his doctoral degree (Ph.D.).

Mechanical transmission of viruses and phytoplasmas to insect vectors

Maramorosch's scientific career began at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. From 1949-60 he was a faculty member at the Rockefeller University in New York. He modified Weigl’s procedure of lice inoculation, adopting it to micro-injection of plant pathogenic viruses and phytoplasmas into leafhopper vectors. This permitted him to obtain the first evidence that certain plant pathogens multiply not only in plants, but also in specific invertebrate animal vectors.

Personal life and death

Maramorosch was married to Warsaw-born wife Irene Ludwinowska. Irene became a librarian in the New York Public Library, where she worked for the following 30 years. They had one daughter, Lydia Ann Trammell Maramorosch, born 1949 in New York.

Maramorosch died of natural cause at the age of 101 years in Poland while visiting family.

Editorial work

Maramorosch continued, through 2015, to be active in the field by conducting research, publishing, presenting his findings at professional meetings, and organizing international conferences to promote new advances in the field. In his career of over 60 years, Maramorosch published as author or co-author more than 800 scientific papers and 100 books. A partial list follows:

Biological Transmission of Disease Agents, 1962.

Comparative Symptomatology of Coconut Diseases of Unknown Etiology, 1964.

Insect Viruses, 1968.

Viruses, Vectors, and Vegetation, 1969.

Comparative Virology, 1971.

Mycoplasma Diseases, 1973.

Viruses, Evolution, and Cancer, 1974.

Invertebrate Immunity, 1975.

Legume Diseases in the Tropics, 1975.

Invertebrate Tissue Culture-Research Application, 1976.

Aphids as Virus Vector, 1977.

Insect and Plant Viruses-An Atlas, 1977.

Viruses and Environment, 1978.

Awards and honors

1959: AAAS Award

1962: Co-organized the first international conference on invertebrate tissue culture in Montpellier, France

1962: Vice President and Recording secretary, New York Academy of Sciences

1963: U.S. Delegate, 1st International Committee for Virus Nomenclature

1967-1984: Founder and editor, with Hilary Koprowski, Methods in Virology,8 vols. Academic Press

• 1970: Elected Member, Leopoldina Academy, Germany
• 1972: Fulbright Dist. Professor, Yugoslavia
• 1972–present, editor (vols.16-81), Advances in Virus Research
• 1974–present: Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University, (currently Emeritus Professor)
• 1976: Ciba-Geigy Award in Agriculture
• 1978: ASM Waksman Award
• 1983: Distinguished Service Award of American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)
• 1984–present: Robert L. Starkey Professor of Microbiology