George Hirst (virologist)

George K. Hirst

George Keble Hirst, M.D. (March 2, 1909 – January 22, 1994)[1] was an American virologist and science administrator who was among the first to study the molecular biology and genetics of animal viruses, especially influenza virus. He directed the Public Health Research Institute in New York City (1956–1981), and was also the founding editor-in-chief of Virology, the first English-language journal to focus on viruses. He is particularly known for inventing the hemagglutination assay, a simple method for quantifying viruses, and adapting it into the hemagglutination inhibition assay, which measures virus-specific antibodies in serum. He was the first to discover that viruses can contain enzymes, and the first to propose that virus genomes can consist of discontinuous segments. The New York Times described him as "a pioneer in molecular virology."[2]

  1. ^ Death Record: George K. Hirst[permanent dead link] (accessed February 21, 2013)
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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