Ralph S. Wolfe
Professor Wolfe is a general microbiologist equally at home with the biology, physiology, and chemistry of a diverse range of microbes. He is an authority on anaerobic bacteria, in particular the methanogens. He has discovered several new vitamins and coenzymes unique to methanogens and to the biochemistry of methanogenesis, fundamental contributions in an increasingly important area of microbial biochemistry. He received the Carski Distinguished Teaching Award of the American Society for Microbiology (1971), the Selman Waksman Award in microbiology from the National Academy of Sciences (1995), the Abbott Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society for Microbiology (1996), and the Proctor and Gamble Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (1999). He was a Guggenheim Fellow (1960, 1975). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.