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Wald was born in New York City, the son of Ernestine (Rosenmann) and Isaac Wald, Jewish immigrant parents. He was a member of the first graduating class of the Brooklyn Technical High School in New York in 1922. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from {{UNI|New York University |NYU}} in 1927 and his {{PhD}} in zoology from {{UNI|Columbia University |CUNY}} in 1932. After graduating, he received a travel grant from the US National Research Council. Wald used this grant to work in Germany with Otto Heinrich Warburg where he identified vitamin A in the retina. Wald then went on to work in Zurich, Switzerland with the discoverer of vitamin A, Paul Karrer. Wald then worked briefly with Otto Fritz Meyerhof in Heidelberg, Germany, but left Europe for the {{UNI|University of Chicago |UChicago}} in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power and life in Europe became more dangerous for Jews. In 1934, Wald went to {{UNI|Harvard University |HU}} where he became an instructor, then a professor.

He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1950 and in 1967 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries in vision. In 1966 he was awarded the Frederic Ives Medal by the OSA and in 1967 the Paul Karrer Gold Medal of the {{UNI|University of Zurich|UZH}}.