ursue his first research project (on jaundice), and allowed him to be appointed to an internship in medicine, and then to an assistant residency, which would groom him for a career in academic medicine. Following his graduation in 1941, Kornberg enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, being assigned duty as a medical officer in the Caribbean. Officials at the National Institute of Health in Maryland, aware of his brief clinical study on the subject of jaundice, arranged for Kornbergs transfer to the institute. He spent the remainder of World War II carrying out research in the nutrition laboratory. In 1943, Kornberg married Sylvy Levy; he enjoyed not only companionship with Sylvy but also laboratory collaboration with a gifted wife. Her suggestions and advice would play major roles in his research. He has also enjoyed the privilege of fathering three sons, Tom, Ken, and Roy who have exhibited extraordinary scientific and professional achievements. B. Professional Information The National Institute of health was founded by Joseph Goldberger, one of the first scientists to recognize that a vitamin deficiency could cause an epidemic disease. Dr. Goldberger discovered the vitamin niacin, a member of the B complex of vitamins. Dr. Goldberger emerged as one of the greatest vitamin hunters. During Kornbergs stay at the institute, from 1942 to 1945, his work contributed to the isolation of another vitamin in the B complex, folic acid. He always felt that he had come to the nutrition research in its twilight, decades too late to share the excitement and adventures of the early vitamin hunters who had solved riddles of diseases that had plagued the world for centuries. His envy of their exploits would eventually impel him to search for a new frontier. Having fed rats a purified diet for three years, he became frustrated with not knowing what vitamins really did and decided on a leave of absence. Kornberg wanted to immerse himself in the new biochemist...
