Dr. Charles Meyer Radding was a professor at Yale University whose specialties were genetics, molecular biophysics, and biochemistry. He is buried at Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven in an area with many other scientists and Yale professors.
His gravestone gives two hints to his love of genetics. First, above his name is a symbol of a double-helix. This is the shape of DNA. Second, the large A, G, C, and T that form the acrostic are important in DNA. They stand for adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine, the bases that make up DNA.
Here is a biography of Dr. Radding:
"In Memoriam: Charles M. Radding, MD 1930–2020
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our distinguished colleague and friend, Charles M. Radding, MD, professor emeritus of genetics. Charles lived at The Whitney Center in Hamden, Conn., with Natalie, his wife of more than 65 years. He passed away on October 20, 2020, at age 90. In addition to Natalie, he is survived by his three daughters and a grandson.
Charles was born in Springfield, Mass., and attended Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, receiving an MD degree in 1956. While at Harvard, he published the results of his first foray into research, three papers on visual pigments with the future Nobel laureate, George Wald. A medical internship at Boston City Hospital and a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health convinced him that his calling lay not in clinical medicine but in basic scientific research. He traveled to Stanford University to conduct postdoctoral research with Arthur Kornberg, who was awarded the Nobel Prize the year Charles joined the laboratory. At that time, the Kornberg lab was a magnet for ambitious young scientists hoping to understand the molecular mechanism of DNA replication, less than a decade after Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA.
Charles started his faculty career at the University of Michigan and moved to Yale in 1967 to join the Department of Medicine to head a basic research laboratory. He later joined the Department of Human Genetics, which has since been renamed the Department of Genetics. Charles was also a valued member of the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.
A superb biochemist, Charles characterized cellular proteins that mediate recombination, the process by which DNA segments are shuffled to generate new combinations of genes and new functions of proteins, a fundamental genetic process that helps drive evolution and immune function, and sometimes causes cancer. He focused on the recA protein from E. coli and elucidated the molecular mechanism of recombination in unprecedented detail. By purifying and studying proteins involved in recombination, he was able to reconstitute key steps of this complex process in the test tube. These results were reported in part in a remarkable series of nine research articles published in the journal Cell in the early 1980s. These experiments, characterized by their elegance and rigor, revolutionized our understanding of recombination. Another landmark and highly influential contribution, initially formulated with his colleague Matthew Meselson of Harvard during a long bus trip through the Scottish Highlands, was the articulation of a new general model of recombination, known as the Meselson-Radding Model. In recognition of his work, Charles was elected into the National Academy of Sciences and served for many years as an editor of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
We also remember Charles as an outstanding teacher, engaging lecturer, and dedicated and inspiring mentor. He often accessorized his lectures with props: long rubber tubes representing DNA strands to illustrate difficult-to-visualize concepts like positive and negative DNA supercoiling and DNA strand exchange. Occasionally, the tubing got into a hopeless tangle, to the great amusement of the class!
He was a wonderful departmental citizen, serving as unofficial mentor and source of sage and calming advice to many junior (and senior) faculty members at a time when formal mentoring programs did not exist in the department. He also served as director of Graduate Studies in Genetics for many years. After he finished his term as DGS, he instructed his successors that a main goal of this position was not to make sure students met all the requirements, but to make sure that students were treated fairly. Charles failed at his first attempt at retirement, soon returning to work for another term as DGS after he closed his lab.
Charles had many interests outside of the lab: classical music, literature, fine food, and languages, with a special fondness for French. Indeed, after a sojourn in Paris at the Institute Pasteur, he became a great fan of the culture, cuisine, and wine of France, and he was always happy with little urging to speak French, or, for that matter, any of a series of ersatz languages and accents that sounded surprisingly authentic.
When he retired, the Department of Genetics feted Charles at a dinner attended by many of his colleagues and former trainees who traveled from around the world to pay tribute and acknowledge his impact on their lives. Their admiration, respect, and love were palpable. News of Charles’ passing elicited a similar outpouring. Examples of comments from some of his faculty colleagues show his lasting impact at Yale: “Charles was a gentle and kind colleague and an inspiring example of a dedicated scientist.” “I am deeply saddened by this news as Charles was a great mentor for me when I began our lab ... Charles was compassionate and thoughtful [and] gave me nuggets of incredible wisdom with love and care.” “I was so sad to hear this. Charles was wonderful. And what elegant experiments he contributed to our understanding of recombination.” “This is incredibly sad news ... I came to treasure Charles' wisdom and generosity in helping me begin my life as a faculty member. His seminal contributions to science moved the recombination field and his presence in our department made us better in every way.” “He was a dear mentor to me and many other junior colleagues ... when I arrived at Yale, he had come out of retirement to serve as DGS, provide his wisdom and experience.”
We were fortunate to work with Charles, our lives were enriched by knowing him, and we will miss him greatly. This profile was written in consultation with the Radding family."
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