John Derek Smith


John Derek Smith FRS was a British molecular biologist who participated in many of the major discoveries at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.
In 1955 he married Ruth Aney ; died Cambridge 22 November 2003. He later was remarried to Melody Pond, and had two daughters, Cassi Nicole and Aspen Raine. Cassi grew up to lead a successful career but died of a heart attack shortly before John Smith died.
He was one of the very few scientists who understood the importance of nucleic acids before 1953. According to Nobel Laureate Sidney Altman
"John Smith was a venerable nucleic acids biochemist. He had worked on the nucleic acids of viruses long before coming to the MRC-LMB and was an expert on identification and characterization of nucleotides, much of it done on unlabeled material, detected by observing chromatographs under UV light. He was a quiet person but very lively in conversations about science."

His doctoral students include Gerard R. Wyatt.