Passion or Profession: Scientist

Period: 1920–todate

Baruj Benacerraf was born in Venezuela but also spent a good deal of time in France and the United States. After serving in the U.S. Army, he attended Columbia University. During his time at several universities, he focused his research on the immune system. It was for this research on immune responses and transplant rejection that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1980. He has since helped other leading scientists in their research at Harvard University, where is the Chair of Pathology.