Salvador Edward Luria was one of the founders of molecular biology. His work in the early 1940s with a biological substance known as the bacteriophage opened up new research areas in the fields of biochemistry, bacteriology, and virology, and had significant implications for genetic engineering. For his pioneering work in molecular biology and for making others aware of the scientific relevance of the bacteriophage, or bacterial virus, Luria shared the Nobel Prize in 1969.

Luria was born in Turin, Italy, to David Luria and Ester Sacerdote. David Luria, a member of one of Turin's most influential Jewish families, was a trained accountant and managed a small printing business. In the 1920s, Luria (known as Salva to friends and family) attended Liceo d'Azeglio high school, one of Northern Italy's finest schools that also produced a number of future leaders of post-Fascist Italy. In 1929 he enrolled in medical school at the...