Astrobiologist, Nobel Prize Winner Baruch Blumberg Dies

A portrait of Dr. Baruch Blumberg in 1999. Image credit: NASA

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NASA’s first director of the Astrobiology Insitute, and Nobel Prize winner Dr. Baruch “Barry” Blumberg has passed away at the age of 85. He suffered an apparent heart attack while attending a conference at Ames Research Center on Tuesday, April 5. Blumberg served as at the NASA Astrobiology Institute from 1999 to 2002, and is best known as the winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Medicine for identifying the Hepatitis B virus.

“Barry Blumberg was a great biochemist and researcher,” said Ames Center Director Pete Worden. “He was a leading light in the scientific community and a great humanitarian. He also was a loyal and supportive friend to NASA, Ames Research Center and the nation’s space program.”

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Read more about Blumberg from NASA, and from the NASA Lunar Science Institute.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/