Brief Chronology

  • 1877 --Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (October 21); son of a clergyman
  • 1887 --Avery family moved to New York City
  • 1900 --Received BA from Colgate University
  • 1904 --Received MD from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; practiced medicine (general surgery) in New York City
  • 1907 --Appointed associate director of bacteriological department at the Hoagland Laboratory in Brooklyn, New York
  • 1913 --Joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research as an assistant
  • 1915 --Promoted to an associate at the Rockefeller Institute
  • 1917 --Became a private in the U.S. Army Medical Corps
  • 1918 --Acquired U.S. citizenship
  • 1918 --Commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army
  • 1919 --Became an associate member at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research
  • 1923 --Became a member of the Rockefeller Institute
  • 1932 --Received John Philips Memorial Award from the American College of Physicians
  • 1933 --Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1933 --Received Paul Ehrlich Gold Medal from University of Frankfurt
  • 1934 --Colin M. MacLeod joined Avery's laboratory at the Rockefeller Institute
  • 1941 --Elected president of the Society of American Bacteriologists
  • 1941 --Maclyn McCarty joined Avery's laboratory at the Rockefeller Institute
  • 1943 --Appointed to Army Epidemiology Board; served until 1945
  • 1943 --Became member emeritus; remained at the Rockefeller Institute until 1948
  • 1944 --Published results of research with MacLeod and McCarty on the transforming principle
  • 1945 --Received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society of London
  • 1946 --Received Kober Medal from the Association of American Physicians
  • 1947 --Received the Lasker Award from the American Public Health Association
  • 1948 --Retired to Nashville, Tennessee
  • 1949 --Received the Passano Award
  • 1950 --Received the Pasteur Gold Medal from the Swedish Medical Society
  • 1955 --Died in Nashville at the age of 77 (20 February)
  • 1965 --Avery Memorial Gateway dedicated at Rockefeller University
  • 1976 --RenĂ© J. Dubos published The Professor, the Institute, and DNA
  • 1985 --Maclyn McCarty published The Transforming Principle: Discovering That Genes Are Made of DNA
  • 2004 --Elected to Canadian Medical Hall of Fame