Paul M. Doty

Paul M. Doty ( June 1, 1920-) is an emeritus Harvard Mallinckrodt Professor of Biochemistry who specialized in the physical properties of macromolecules and has been strongly involved in peace and security policy issues.

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Paul Doty was born in Charleston, West Virginia. He graduated from Penn State University in 1941 and took his Doctorate from Columbia University under Joseph Edward Mayer. From 1943 to 1945 he was at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He joined Harvard University in 1948. In his 42 years at Harvard, he supervised the research of 44 students, 10 of whom have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Doty became a member of the National Academy of Science in 1957. He founded the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and became its first chairman 1968. His scientific work involved the characterization of biopolymers such as DNA, proteins and collagen by optical methods such as circular dichroism and light scattering.

As a graduate student, he worked on the Manhattan project, which led to his lifelong involvement in activities aiming to avert nuclear war. He was a special assistant to the president for national security and member of the President's Science and Arms Control Advisory Committees and in 1973 was a founder and director emeritus of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He is a member of the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He was involved for many years in the Pugwash Conferences. After retirement he continued to work on Russian-American scientific relations and was board member of George Soros' International Science Foundation that provided support to Russian scientists in the 1990s.

Prof. Doty is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists[1].

See also

Belfer Center [2]