Roy J. Britten *51

Roy Britten, a retired biophysicist who discovered “junk” DNA, died Jan. 21, 2012. He was 92.

Britten graduated from the University of Virginia in 1940. Recruited for the Manhattan Project during World War II, he later earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton in 1951. That year, he joined the Carnegie Institution in Washington, and rose to Distinguished Carnegie Senior Research Associate in biology, becoming emeritus in 1999.

He also was at Caltech as a senior researcher from 1973 to 1981. Promoted that year to distinguished senior researcher, he retired, also in 1999, as emeritus.

Britten was known for his discovery of repeated DNA sequences in the genomes of higher organisms. This discovery of “junk” DNA in 1968 pointed to its significance. As a front-page New York Times article on Sept. 6, 2012, reported, a federal project of 440 scientists from 32 laboratories around the world recently discovered that this DNA, once dismissed as junk, contains genetic switches that regulate how cells, organs, and tissues behave — “a major medical and scientific breakthrough.”

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

Britten was predeceased in 2001 by his wife, Jacqueline, and is survived by two sons.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.