John Stanley Griffith

John Stanley Griffith (1928–1972) was a British chemist and biophysicist.

His early work was in the inorganic chemistry of transition metal ions and ligand field theory.[1]

During the 1960s, Griffith and radiation biologist Tikvah Alper developed the hypothesis that some transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are caused by an infectious agent consisting solely of proteins.[2][3] This idea was eventually developed by Prusiner and others into the so-called prion hypothesis. In 1951, when he was just 23, at Francis Crick's suggestion, Griffith performed quantum mechanical calculations on what later became known as complementary base pairing.[4] Griffith was the nephew of the distinguished British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith.

See also

References
  1. Lagnado, John (August 2005). "From pabulum to prions (via DNA): a tale of two Griffiths" (PDF). The Biochemist. Biochemical Society. Retrieved 3 July 2018. his first book, The Theory of Transition-Metal Ions, which had a lasting impact on inorganic chemistry and is arguably the definitive work in this field.
  2. Alper T, Cramp WA, Haig DA, Clarke MC (May 1967). "Does the agent of scrapie replicate without nucleic acid?". Nature. 214 (5090): 764–6. Bibcode:1967Natur.214..764A. doi:10.1038/214764a0. PMID 4963878. S2CID 4195902.
  3. Griffith JS (Sep 1967). "Self-replication and scrapie". Nature. 215 (5105): 1043–4. Bibcode:1967Natur.215.1043G. doi:10.1038/2151043a0. PMID 4964084. S2CID 4171947.
  4. John Lagnado (August 2005). "From pabulum to prions (via DNA): a tale of two Griffiths" (PDF). The Biochemist: 33–35.


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