Myron K. Brakke

(1921- ) lives in Lincoln. Educator, plant pathologist, research chemist, known for his landmark invention in 1950 of density gradient centrifugation, the principal tool that led to the development of modern virology and molecular biology; also developed methods for virus analysis, including potato yellow dwarf, wound tumor, tomato spotted wilt, and several cereal viruses; authored or co-authored at least 120 articles, books, and chapters; elected to National Academy of Sciences in 1974 and inducted into Agricultural Research Service Science Hall of Fame in 1987. Consult Sunday /Omaha/ World Herald Magazine of the Midlands, June 30, 1974, p. 14 and Phytopathology, Vol 59 (January 1969) 6 and Vol 63 (January 1973) 7 and Vol 79 (January 1989) 58 and American Men & Women of Science, Vol 1 (2003) 729.

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