Nationality American Name Frederick Robbins | Role Pediatrician Fields Pediatrics, Virology | |
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Born August 25, 1916
Auburn, Alabama ( 1916-08-25 ) Institutions Case Western Reserve University Alma mater University of Missouri, Harvard University Died August 4, 2003, Cleveland, Ohio, United States Education University of Missouri, Harvard University, Harvard Medical School Awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Notable awards E. Mead Johnson Award (1953), Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1954) Similar People Thomas Huckle Weller, John Franklin Enders, Dorothy M Horstmann | ||
Frederick Chapman Robbins (August 25, 1916 – August 4, 2003) was an American pediatrician and virologist.
He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954 along with John Franklin Enders and Thomas Huckle Weller, making Robbins the only Nobel laureate born in Alabama. The award was for his breakthrough work in isolation and growth of the polio virus, paving the way for vaccines developed by Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin, etc. He attended school at the University of Missouri and Harvard University.
In 1952, he was appointed as professor of pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University. Robbins was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962. From 1966 onwards, Robbins was dean of the School of Medicine at Case Western. He led the medical school until 1980, when he assumed the presidency of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. Five years later, in 1985, Robbins returned to Case Western Reserve as dean emeritus and distinguished University professor Emeritus. He continued to be a fixture at the medical school until his death in 2003. The medical school's "Frederick C. Robbins Society" is named in his honor.
Robbins received the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences of the American Philosophical Society in 1999. He was an atheist.