George Emil Palade, the only Romanian Nobel laureate, died

Romanian scientist George Emil Palade, the only Romanian to have ever won a Nobel Prize, died in the US at the age of 96, Romanian news television Realitatea TV reported on Wednesday. His research in cellular biology rewarded him with a Nobel Prize for Medicine.

The main focus of Palade’s research was to explain the cellular mechanism of protein production. His name is also given to the cellular particles where protein bio-synthesis is done.

George Emil Palade was born in Iasi, NE Romania in 1912, the son of a family of intellectuals. In 1930 he joined the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest. He left Romania for the United States in 1946, with his wife Irina Malaxa, to continue his post-doctoral studies there. In 1973 he started lecturing cellular biology at the Yale University.

He was a member of the American Academy of Sciences and of the Academy of Sciences and Arts.

In 2007 Romanian President Traian Basescu awarded him the Romanian Star Order, the highest distinction of the Romanian state, for his activity.