Walter Jennings Jones

Walter Jennings Jones (April 28, 1865 – February 28, 1935) was an American biochemist and a professor at Johns Hopkins University who was among the early investigators of the composition of the nucleic acids including the presence of nucleotides, sugar and phosphate. He also noted the presence of thermostable enzymes that could break the nucleic acids by breaking the inter-nucleotide bonds. He published his results in the 1920 book Nucleic Acids: Their Chemical Properties and Physiological Conduct.

Early life Jones was born in Baltimore to Zeanette Jane (née Bohen) and Levin Jones, both devout Methodists. His father was a ship chandler of his business at the Light Street Wharf in Baltimore. His father died when he was thirteen. Jones's middle name was after a physician friend of the family and he rarely used it. He was educated at local schools, and joined the City College, Baltimore in 1879 and graduated in the spring of 1884. He joined Johns Hopkins University in 1884 and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1888 with studies in chemistry, and minors in mineralogy and geology. He received a PhD in 1891, studying under Ira Remsen.

Career Jones worked as an acting professor of natural science at Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio. In September 1892, Jones started work at Purdue University but moved back to Baltimore. In March 1896 he became an assistant in physiological chemistry under John J. Abel at Johns Hopkins. Among the works that Jones did was to come to the conclusion that some nucleic acids had a five carbon sugar (in yeast) and that animals they had a six carbon sugar. This was a period when the contemporary model of tetranucleotides was proposed by Jones' rival P.A. Levene. Another discovery was thermostable enzymes capable of breaking the inter-nucleotide bonds, now known to be ribonuclease A.

Personal life Jones married Grace Crary Clarke, daughter of Reverend George Clarke of Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on September 1, 1891. They had one daughter, Marion Eleanor.