John Abelson is George Beadle Professor of Biology Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Abelson is one of the major figures in the area of gene expression. His work has made possible an understanding of how the products of genes, RNA precursors, are matured to give their functional products. He is also the President and Executive Director of the Agouron Institute, a charitable research organization that supports new research frontiers and technologies in biology and geology.