Thomas D. Brock

Microbiologist Thomas Brock has died at age 94.  During a field trip to Yellowstone National Park, Brock overheard a park ranger say that algae caused the blue-green color of the thermal springs.  What organism could survive at 158 degrees F (70 degrees C), he wondered?  Two years later Brock identified Thermus aquaticus, in which biochemist Alice Chien found the “Taq” (named for the organism) enzyme that Kary Mullis used to create polymerase chain reaction.  We remember Tom Brock for his curiosity, but to paraphrase Pasteur, curiosity favors the prepared mind.    MORE WITH VIDEO

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