Former Dewey Elementary School Student Wins Nobel Prize
Dr. Roger Kornberg receives international acclaim

(October 11, 2006) – Congratulations to former SLPS Dewey elementary student Dr. Roger Kornberg for winning the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Kornberg was born in St. Louis in 1947 and attended Dewey elementary school in 1960 and 1961. According to classmate Thomas Holler, Kornberg was in Miss Heigold’s 6th grade class and Miss Riddle’s 7th grade class.

“This is just another fine example of the great accomplishments that come from the St. Louis Public Schools,” said Superintendent Dr. Diana Bourisaw. “We are very proud of Dr. Kornberg for receiving this top honor.”

Kornberg was the first to create an actual picture of how transcription works at a molecular level in the important group of organisms called eukaryotes (organisms whose cells have a well defined nucleus.)

Forty-seven years ago, Roger Korberg’s father Arthur Kornberg, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1959) for his studies of how genetic information is transferred from one DNA-molecule to another.