Monod, Jacques Lucien

Born Feb. 9, 1910, in Paris. French biochemist and microbiologist.

Monod worked at the University of Paris after graduating from the university’s faculty of sciences in 1934. In 1945 he was made head of the laboratory of microbic physiology of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and in 1953 head of the institute’s department of cellular biochemistry. In 1971 he was appointed director of the Pasteur Institute. He also held professorships at the University of Paris, from 1959, and the Collège de France, from 1967.

Monod’s main works are devoted to bacterial growth and to the induction and repression of bacterial enzymes. Together with F. Jacob, he formulated the hypothesis on the transfer of genetic information by way of the mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) from DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) to ribosomes. Jacob and Monod also proposed the concept of operon to explain the genetic regulation of protein synthesis in bacteria.

Monod is a member of various academies of sciences throughout the world. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1965 along with Jacob and A. Lwoff.