Philip Coppens, Ph.D.
Coppens, a chemist, is a pioneer in the field of high resolution X-ray crystallography. He has demonstrated the experimental mapping of the distribution of electrons in molecules, studied the light-induced changes in molecular crystals, and engineered crystals with specific properties. He won the Gregori Aminoff Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1996. Coppens has been a professor of Chemistry at the University at Buffalo since 1968.

John D. Holland
A research fellow at the Buffalo Museum of Science, Holland has made fundamental contributions to the study of prehistoric stone tools, and the analysis and classification of the lithic (stone) materials. As a young man, Holland moved to Buffalo to work at the Ford Stamping Plant. Following retirement from his engineering position, he pursued an atypical largely self-taught second career to become a leading expert in the field he pioneered.

Norman C. Jarosik, Ph.D.
Jarosik, a physicist working in large scale science is a leader of one section of the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) Mission of NASA that has revealed conditions as they existed in the early universe, billions of years ago. Jarosik was born and educated in Buffalo through undergraduate and Doctorate degrees from the University at Buffalo.

Claire Fraser-Liggett, Ph.D.
Fraser-Liggett led the teams that sequenced the genomes of microbial organisms and helped initiate the era of comparative genomics when head of The Institute for Genomic Research. She presently heads the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute of Genome Sciences. She received her doctorate from the University at Buffalo.

Thomas B. Tomasi, M.D., Ph.D.
Tomasi has made many important contributions to the field of Immunology. His work demonstrated why the human body does not reject the fetus. He was educated at Dartmouth College (BA), the University of Vermont (MD) and Rockefeller University (PhD). He served as President and CEO of RPCI from 1987-1996, and is presently working on the development of a tumor vaccine.

Patricia Chapple Wright, Ph.D.
Wright studies behavior, ecology and biology of lemurs. She discovered a new species of lemur (relative of monkeys) and helped establish the Ranomafana National Park Preserve in Madagascar where she serves as International Coordinator. She received the MacArthur 'genius' award, and serves on the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research & Exploration. She currently is Professor of Anthropology at SUNY Stony Brook. Wright grew up in the Buffalo area.

Willis Haviland Carrier
Carrier (1876-1950) was raised on a farm in Angola, NY. Following his receipt of a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University in 1901, he went to work at the Buffalo Forge Company. While there he developed and patented (1906) the world’s first mechanical air conditioner

Gerty Cori, M.D. and Carl Cori, M.D.
Gerty (1896-1957) and Carl Cori (1896-1984) received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine 1947 for the discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen. This work was done at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (then The Institute for the Study of Malignant Diseases).

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