American microbiologist

Jonathan Roger Beckwith is the American Cancer Society Research Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He is world renowned for his studies of bacterial gene expression, protein secretion, the structure and function of membrane proteins, and bacterial division. He has authored over 230 scientific publications. As well, Beckwith is a commentator of the societal aspects of science, with over 70 publications to date.

Beckwith was born and educated in the Boston area. He graduated from Newton High School in 1953 and went onto Harvard College, where he graduated in 1957 with an A.B. in Chemistry. From there, he attended Harvard University, graduating with a Ph.D. in Biochemical Sciences in 1961. From 1961 until 1965, he was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral...