Gregory Goodwin Pincus - Birth and Education

Birth and Education

Gregory Goodwin Pincus was born in Woodbine, New Jersey into a Jewish family, the son of Polish-born immigrants Elizabeth (Lipman) and Joseph Pinchus. He credited two uncles, both agricultural scientists, for his interest in research. He went to Cornell University and received a bachelor's degree in agriculture in 1924. He attended Harvard University where he was an instructor in zoology while also working toward his master's and doctorate degrees. From 1927 to 1930 he moved from Harvard to Cambridge University in England to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology with Richard Goldschmidt in Berlin where he performed research. He became an instructor in general physiology at Harvard University in 1930 and was promoted in 1931 to an assistant professor.