Peter C. Nowell (1928–2016)

The pioneering cancer cytogeneticist, Peter C. Nowell, died on December 26, 2016, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 88. His work laid the foundation for the recognition of the genetic basis of cancer that paved the way for modern targeted cancer therapeutics. Nowell’s observations of changes in chromosomal anatomy during progression of malignancies led him to predict that it was the accumulation of genetic abnormalities that underlies cancer progression, predating notions such as genomic instability as a fundamental hallmark of cancer.