Albert E. Dahlberg

Albert E. Dahlberg, of Providence; Mar. 1, of cerebrovascular disease. He devoted himself to scientific research, helping others, and enjoying his family. With a quick wit and a distinctively kind and quirky sense of humor, he enjoyed being with friends and colleagues from around the world. He particularly loved puns and spinning fanciful tales of his fictional collaborator George Q. Pennable, who was noteworthy for his “useless suggestions and pointless comments” but credited nonetheless in many of his publications. An avid Brown Bears football fan, he enjoyed attending their games and serving as a football recruiter and faculty advisor to the team for many years. A graduate of Haverford College, he received his MD and PhD from the University of Chicago. After completing a pediatric internship at the University of Chicago hospitals, he served during the Vietnam War from 1967 to 1970 in the Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda. While living in the Washington D.C. area, he and his wife marched in the White House vigil to protest the Vietnam War. They also joined the Society of Friends meeting and became lifelong Quakers. In 1970 they moved to Aarhus, Denmark, for two years while Al continued his research in biochemistry. In 1972 he received an appointment as an assistant professor of medical science at Brown. He became a full professor in 1982. During his academic career he was a visiting professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Copenhagen, Denmark; and University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He received 43 years of uninterrupted funding from the NIH for his research, mostly focused on the structure and function of the prokaryotic ribosome. He coauthored two books, wrote chapters in 14 books, and published more than 120 academic journal articles on the topic of ribosomes. He served on several national and international scientific boards, the faculty executive committee at Brown, and with several local nonprofits. He was also the medical director of Beech Tree Laboratory, a founder of Milkhaus Laboratory, and on the board of directors at the Monroe Institute in Virginia. He is survived by his wife, Pamela; three children; two daughters-in-law; six grandchildren; a sister; and a brother.