Robert Huebner

[3] Local physicians hadn't initially reported the cases to authorities, as most presented with a rash and fever, but recovered within two weeks without any specific treatment.

[3] The New York City Department of Health was informed after a "minor epidemic" broke out at the Queens housing complex and individuals had been sent to hospitals with violent fevers and skin lesions.

[2] Huebner's investigations on the site led to the conclusion that tenants had been bitten by a mite identified as Allodermanyssus sanguineus, found on mice that infested the storerooms and incinerator areas in the buildings.

[4] He was recognized by the American Society of Tropical Medicine for his efforts with the Bailey K. Ashford Award in 1949, which included a $1,000 prize from Eli Lilly and Company that he later used as a down payment for a farm in Frederick, Maryland.

[2] Dairy farmers were upset by the insinuation that they were responsible for the outbreak and put pressure on local health officials to ask Huebner to leave the area.

[5] While trying to grow common cold viruses, he and his colleague Dr. Wallace Rowe first tried to use adenoid and tonsil tissue, before using a culture based on tumor cells.

[1] In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 1969, Huebner advanced his theory that oncogenes, then only a hypothetical construct, could cause normal cells to mutate and become cancerous.

[1] President of the United States Richard Nixon presented Huebner with the National Medal of Science at a White House dinner held on February 16, 1970, recognizing his "contributions to the modern understanding of the biology of viruses and their role in the induction of diverse diseases.

[1] He bought a 300-acre (1.2 km2) farm for $4,000 in Frederick, Maryland where he raised his family, using the money he had received as part of an award for his rickettsial research to make the necessary downpayment.