Michael Smith (1932 - 2000)

Born 26 Apr 1932 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom

Died 4 Oct 2000 at age 68 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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Biography

Michael Smith is Notable.

Michael Smith is/was a significant British Columbian.

Michael Smith, a British-born Canadian biochemist and businessman, shared the 1993 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Kary Mullis for his work in developing site-directed mutagenesis. He used the prize money to advance the cause of scientific research in Canada.

Born in 1932 in Blackpool, England, he was the son of Rowland Smith and Mary Agnes Armstead.^[1][2]

Following a PhD in 1956 from the University of Manchester, he undertook postdoctoral research with Har Gobind Khorana (himself a Nobel Prize winner) at the British Columbia Research Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Subsequently, Smith worked at the Fisheries Research Board of Canada Laboratory in Vancouver before being appointed a professor of biochemistry in the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Medicine in 1966. Smith's career included roles as the founding director of the UBC Biotechnology Laboratory (1987 to 1995) and the founding scientific leader of the Protein Engineering Network of Centres of Excellence (PENCE). He was a founder of ZymoGenetics Inc., a biotechnology company. In 1996 he was named Peter Wall Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology. Subsequently he became the founding director of the Genome Sequencing Centre (now called the Genome Sciences Centre) at the BC Cancer Research Centre.

He died in 2000 in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[3] In 2001 British Columbia's health research agency was named in his honour.

Research Notes

• Legacy.com obituary.
• The Globe and Mail obituary.

Sources

1. ↑ "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVQW-J23N : 1 October 2014), Michael Smith, 1932; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Birth Registration, Fylde, Lancashire, England, citing General Register Office, Southport, England.
2. ↑ The Nobel Prize: Michael Smith
3. ↑ Royal BC Museum Archives Registration Number:2000-09-021187 Death Record. Accessed 20 Oct 2023.

See also:

• Wikipedia: Michael Smith
• Wikidata: Item Q232289, en:Wikipedia
• The Canadian Encyclopedia: Michael Smith (Biochemist)
• Britannica: Michael Smith
• Find a Grave (has image), Find A Grave: Memorial #161274317 (accessed 20 October 2023), Memorial page for Michael Smith (26 Apr 1932-4 Oct 2000); Maintained by Grave Tag'r (contributor 46491198).