Gunther Stent

Gunther S. Stent (28 March 1924 – 12 June 2008) was Graduate Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was born in Berlin as "Günter Siegmund Stensch"; the name was changed after the migration to the USA (in 1940 to Chicago). One of the early bacteriophage biologists, he was known also for his studies on the metabolism of bacteria and neurobiology of leeches, and for his writing on the history and philosophy of biology.

His introductory textbook, Molecular Genetics; an Introductory Narrative has been translated into Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.

He was perhaps most generally known for his works on the progress of science, especially his 1969 lectures at Berkeley published as The Coming of the Golden Age.

Gunther also lectured in the molecular biology portion of Biology 1 at UC Berkeley. He had a very unusual lecture style; he introduced the major experiments that advanced the field of molecular biology in a chronological order. It provided students with a unique understanding of both molecular biology and experimentation.

Gunther was also at Oxford in 1953 when Watson and Crick made their announcement that they had "discovered the secret of life". There is a picture of Gunther with Watson and Crick in the book titled "The Double Helix".