A Hidden Legacy

Esther Zimmer Lederberg's research revealed the unique features of bacterial sex. In the decade leading up to the discovery of the DNA double helix, she collaborated with her husband, Joshua Lederberg, to establish the new field of bacterial genetics. The impressive series of achievements by team Lederberg included: the discovery of [lambda] bacteriophage; the discovery of the first plasmid known as the F-factor; the demonstration that viruses carry bacterial genes between bacteria, and fundamental properties of bacterial sex. The Lederbergs' successful collaboration earned Joshua the 1958 Nobel Prize, which he shared with two of Esther's mentors, George Beadle and Edward Tatum. Esther Lederberg's contributions, however, were overlooked by the Nobel committee, an example of institutional discrimination known as The Matilda Effect. Esther Lederberg should have been recognized for inventing Replica Plating, an elegant technique that she originated by re-purposing her compact makeup pad as a kind of ink stamp for conveniently transferring bacterial colonies from one Petri dish to another. Instead, the credit for the invention -still in use today, 70 years later-is given to her famous husband, or, at best, to Dr. and Mrs. Lederberg--