Paul Berg, a 1980 Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who ushered in the era of genetic engineering in 1971 by successfully combining DNA from two different organisms, died on Feb. 15 at his home on the Stanford University campus in California. He was 96.

Dr. Berg provided the initial links in the chain of advances that has led to the genetic engineering of new therapeutic treatments for diseases and vaccines against viruses, like Covid-19.

“Nurturing curiosity and the instinct to seek solutions are perhaps the most important contributions education can make. I have never lost the excitement of discovery,” he said.