George Emil Palade was a Romanian-American cell biologist. George Emil Palade was born on November 19, 1912, in Jassy, Romania. Biologist George Emil Palade studied cell structure and discovered ribosomes. He won a 1974 Nobel Prize for his research.

Palade became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1952 and in 1958 a professor of cytology at Rockefeller Institute, which he left in 1972 to direct studies in cell biology at Yale University Medical School. In 1990 Palade moved to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, where he acted as dean for scientific affairs, served as professor of medicine, and established an exceptional cell biology program. Palade retired in 2001, becoming professor emeritus of medicine at UCSD. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Palade received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1966) and the National Medal of Science (1986). He died on October 7, 2008, in Del Mar, California.