SUBJECT: Famous biologists
DATE: 4/96
Hello to all:
I am teaching introductory biology to gifted high school students (freshmen)
at a regional governor's school in Richmond, VA. We've got a fantastic group
of kids, and an absolutely lousy library (I hope the latter is temporary).
We are planning to assign the students a writing project: a biographical
profile of a biologist (2-3 typed pages). As of now, the choice of topics
is
wide-open. I'd like to expand on the usual list of Darwin, Watson &
Crick,
etc. So I'd like to pick your brains for ideas. Who's YOUR favorite
biologist? I'd like as broad a list as possible, within the confines of
local community library resources (students do have Internet access
on-campus, and access to a local university library--the university library
is mostly used by juniors and seniors working on their independent research
projects; not too many freshmen have braved it yet).
Any and all ideas are appreciated. Thanks!
Nora Ann
Nora Ann Bennett
The Governor's School for Government and International Studies
4100 West Grace Street
Richmond, VA 23223
(804) 780-6155
email: NABennett@aol.com
I kinda like the "biologist" Aristotle, as well as Mendel, Mischer
[did his work down in his Dad's basement, using old disgusting
bandages his physician-father had tossed, I believe], and Harvey.
All interesting science, and interesting people.
-Bob Moss
MOSSRE@WOFFORD.EDU
Wofford College
[PS: I teach "history of biology" for the first time this fall,
so I'm
equally interested in everyone's responses!]
Certainly Barbara McClintock would be an interesting choice.
Mike Gross
Biology Dept.
Georgian Court College
Lakewood, NJ 08701-2697
gross@georgian.edu
http://www.georgian.edu/biology/gross/bi_gross.htm
Try checking out "The Discoverers" by Daniel J. Boorstin for
life stories, in the context of the times, of interesting early
biologists, other scientists, and all manner of explorers.
Doreen
Doreen J. Schroeder
Lab Coordinator
Mail #4327, University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Ave.
St. Paul MN 55105
Nora Ann:
How about: Jane Goodall, Mildred Matthais, Jared Diamond, Martin Cody,
John McClintock (Steinhart aquarium director and shark fanatic), Eugenie
Clark, Rachel Carson, Nikko Tinbergen, Konrad Lorenz and Karl Von Frisch.
When I assign this type of work, I tend to use scientists that are still
alive and ask my studnets to try and contact them via e-mail. The chances
of gettting a response are about even. For example, Dr. Goodall is so
busy that it may be awhile before she answers, but she will answer. A
colleague of mine does not limit the scientist to a famous one, but has
her
students contact local people. The students are then required to interview
them personally.
Good Luck,
==============================================================
Steve Uyeda
North Hollywood High School Zoo Magnet (213) 660-0165
5231 Colfax Ave
(213) 660-3419 - fax
North Hollywood, CA 91601
==============================================================
I second Barbara McClintock. Also, D. Fossey, Rosalind Franklin
(technically, not a biologist, I suppose), S. J. Gould, E.O. Wilson, Kay
Behrensmeyer, E. Just, Peter and Rosemary Grant
Elsa Q. Falls
Associate Professor of Biology
Randolph-Macon College
Ashland, VA 23005
Voice: 804-752-7203
Electronic: efalls@rmc.edu
FAX: 804-752-7231
Some others to consider are Linus Pauling, Edward Jenner, Louis
Pasteur, Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod.
Jeff Newman newman@lycoming.edu
Biology Department http://www2.lycoming.edu/~newman
Lycoming College phone 717-321-4386
Williamsport PA 17701 fax 717-321-4073
How about Melvin Calvin, Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, Peter Mitchell, and Arther
Kornburg, --cmw
Charlene M. Waggoner, Ph.D. "Great art is eternal;
Department of Biological Sciences great science tends to be
Bowling Green, State University replaced by greater science."
Bowling Green, OH 43403
-- John A. Moore
cwaggon@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Nora Ann:
Steve Uyeda
North Hollywood High School Zoo Magnet
wrote
"How about: Jane Goodall, Mildred Matthais, Jared Diamond, Martin Cody,
John McClintock (Steinhart aquarium director and shark fanatic)"
Note:
Steinhart's director is McCosker.
How about adding:
Lynn Margulis
Angelina Hess
Rita Levi-Montalcini (Nobel laureate)
Husband and wife teams, e.g., Bruce
Rebecca Lancefield
Male-female teams: Hershey-Chase, Epstein-Barr
Kary Mullis
Florence Nightingale (doing "man's work" at that time)
Christine Case
Skyline College
case@smcccd.cc.ca.us
Since Bob Moss mentioned the "history of biology" , how about
the
"biology of history"? Thomas Jefferson was an avid naturalist
and
fossil collector- a species of mastodon is named after him. Lewis and
Clark, whom he sent to explore the west, described many new species of
plants and animals. And Ben Franklin, best known as a scientist for
his physics experiments, advanced a political argument for American
independence based on population growth that predated (and probably
influenced) Malthus. None are exactly "real biologists" (let's
not
get intoTHAT again!) but they might liven up your list of choices.
John Dickerman
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115
T80JWD1@WPO.CSO.NIU.EDU
There's a fantastic book by Joseph Kastner called "A Species of Eternity."
It
was published in 1977 and again at a later date under a different name (which
I
don't know). It's a very well-written and accessible biography of early
(colonial to mid 19th c.) American naturalists describing the biology of
the new
world. It might be interesting to generate discussion among your students
by
comparing the lives and activities of modern famous biologists vs their
19th c.
naturalist counterparts. Many of the latter were also geographers, politicians
(Jefferson), explorers (Lewis and Clark), artists (Audobon) and so forth.
The
fact that few biologists today share those interests and skills (at least
professionally) is an important comment on the history of American biology.
Tim Watkins
Univ. Calif. Irvine
Famous:
In the news today is E. Just. Very interesting background and now with a
postal stamp in his honor.
I was most impressed with Libby Hyman. She overcame all odds to become one
of
the best invertebrate biologists of all time. She grew up in the midwest
farm country. If not for a high school teacher she would have continued
glueing labels on cereal boxes. Off to the University of Chicago she went
to
become a star student. She was hit with an awful nasal infection which
disfigured her for life. She writes a most compelling lab manual and supports
herself. She works for free at science museums because they don't hire female
Ph.D.'s. Then she starts her famous Invertebrate series. An incredible woman
who overcomes all... that is Libby Hyman. I am humbled by her experiences
and
accomplishments.
Blystone in Texas
**********************
ROBERT V. BLYSTONE PHONE:(210)736-7243
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY FAX:(210)736-7229
Trinity University E-Mail:RBlyston@Trinity.edu
715 Stadium Drive
San Antonio, TX, 78212
Off the top of my head, Mendel is a good one. There is a
paperback by Alain F. Corcos and Floyd V. Monaghan called
"Gregor Mendel's Experiments on Plant Hybrids" that includes a
fairly complete biography in one chapter, then goes on to
discuss his science. For the Science, I prefer Curt Stern's
"Origins of Genetics" however. Using both sources would be a
good exercise for the students.
I think I saw a biography of Richard Owen reviewed within tha
last year or so. Supposed to be very good. And Owen as being a
different aspect of Darwin's times would make a good contrast.
Wasn't there a book about Huxley out recently, too?
But Mendel is definitely my favorite, after Darwin. BTW did you
see Steve Gould's latest piece in Natural History about Darwin's
ironical humor? What an attractive character (Darwin, that is,
not that I have anything against Gould :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Walter Ogston ogston@hobbes.kzoo.edu
Department of Biology Phone: (616)337-7010
Kalamazoo College Fax: (616)337-7251
Kalamazoo, MI 49006-3295
Jean and others. I wrote a short bio on Libbie some years ago and I used
sources from everywhere. As of five years ago there was no real "long"
bio
on her. I heard that several people were working on one, but all this is
from five year old memory. I could dig it all out of a file cabinet. But
alas
grading calls at the moment with finals starting the third and graduation
on
the 11th. Thanks for asking about one of my favorite idols from before
graduate school. I can still remember as an undergraduate reading her then
almost new volume V of the Invertebrates (volume was copyright in 1959).
Her
scholarship impressed me so that I began to wonder why I wanted to go to
medical school.
Libbie Henrietta Hyman of the American Museum of Natural History in New
York.
Blystone in Texas
**********************
ROBERT V. BLYSTONE PHONE:(210)736-7243
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY FAX:(210)736-7229
Trinity University E-Mail:RBlyston@Trinity.edu
715 Stadium Drive
San Antonio, TX, 78212
Concerning Libbie Henrietta Hyman again: Her contributions as an
invertebrate zoologist and teacher of that subject may cause some of us
to
forget that she was also one of the foremost VERTEBRATE anatomist of her
time and that she authored the lab manual from which many of us studied
comparative vertebrate anatomy. I still have my copy and when I ran into
several copies for sale a year or so ago, I bought them all, even thought
the book was reprinted so many times and so many copies were sold that
there are literally many thousands floating around. The book was so justly
famous and accoladed that when Marvalee Wake authored a comparative anatomy
text for The University of Chicago Press she titled it HYMAN'S COMPARATIVE
VERTEBRATE ANATOMY (the book technically is a third edition of Hyman's
book, but it is an all new book in most respects, including modern material).
At any rate, Hyman made superlative contributions in vertebrate as well
as
invertebrate zoology.
Dave McNeely, Biology, University of Texas at Brownsville, 80 Fort Brown,
Brownsville, TX 78520; mcneely@utb.edu
OK, I'll throw in my two cents...
Mendel!
OK, my molecular bias may be showing - oops, that's another thread :-)
I really like taking students through Mendel's experimental design early
in a course, whether Genetics, non-majors Contemporary Biology, or
Teaching Elementary Science, to show how scientists ask questions, design
controlled experiments, collect and analyze data quantitatively, and
finally formulate and test theories based on their observations. Mendel
is a one-man lesson on the scientific method.
All that, and he founded a branch of biology (genetics) and answered a
fundamental question of biology (inheritance is particulate), through
methodical study of a single common organism.
If you want your students to look at scientists whose theories were
initially unpopular, only to be proven correct later, Howard Temin and
the discovery of reverse transcriptase (upsetting the central dogma)
comes to mind, through your library may have little to offer.
A nice story about unexpected results leading to significant discoveries:
I understand that Tom Cech's discovery of self splicing RNA came from a
negative control sample (RNA substrate with no splicing extract added)
refusing to do what was expected, which was to do nothing. Instead, the
RNA was cleaved, even after exhaustively treated with proteases to
eliminate any enzymatic activity.
I think looking at the lives and discoveries of famous scientists can
help us all recognize the often unintended twists and turns science
takes.
Rick
RICHARD P. HERSHBERGER, PH.D.
* Asst. Prof. of Biology * Carlow College * Pittsburgh PA 15213
rhershberger@carlow.edu * http://www.earthlink.net/~rhershberger/
Mendel is also a good example of ways paradigms constrain our thinking.
Mendel apparently got stuck with his own paradigm interpretation. Since
he had no concept of chromosomes, he could not anticipate crossovers.
Popular opinion is that he kept redoing his experiments until they came
out to the ratios he expected. He blamed his own techniques, when in fact
he was probably seeing crossovers and other kinds of change/mutation.
Janice
***********************************
Janice M. Glime, Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
jmglime@mtu.edu
906-487-2546
FAX 906-487-3167
Some wonderful Arizona
biologists/geologists/paleontologists/archaeologists (all of whom have
books and publications, many have published for the popular press):
Paul S. Martin, Gary Nabhan, Cecil R. Schwalbe, Ray Turner (U.S. Geological
Survey), Charles (Chuck) Lowe, Richard Felger, Tom VanDevender, Jim Mead
(paleontology), Larry Agenbrod, Jan Bowers (a super botanist and a wonder
writer of popular books), Peter Warshall, Tony Burgess (affiliated with
Biosphere 2, among many other projects), Julio Betancourt, Bob Webb (U.S.
Geological Survey), Carl Tomoff, Mike Rosenzweig, Bill Calder.
All are still alive, and most would probably respond to a letter. Many are
affiliated with various Arizona universities (U of A, ASU, NAU), and
several are with the Arizona branch of the U.S. Geological Survey.
They are all fascinating people, most of whom do wonderful "field"
based
work in Arizona, the greater Southwestern US, and Mexico, and many have
worked around the world.
JodyLee Estrada Duek jduek@u.arizona.edu
Faculty Development Specialist 520/626-2203
Division of Academic Resources 520/626-6707
U. of Arizona School of Medicine 520/626-4879 (fax)
1501 N. Campbell Avenue
Tucson, Arizona 85724-5120
On Thu, 25 Apr 1996, Carol Burton wrote:
> To expand on our list of famous biologists/scientists - does anybody
have
> ideas/names of ones who were ethnic (or other) minorities. This come
up in
> terms of role models for minority
> students.
>
There is an excellent resource at Louisiana State University:
http://www.lsu.edu
Select - Libraries, Research & Other
Select - LSU Libraries
Select - LSU and Louisiana Electronic Publications/
Select - The Faces of Science: African-Americans in the Sciences
My minority and majority students have found the contents quite
interesting and useful.
Best wishes,
Bill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
William A. Hayes, II, Ph.D. | If you follow your bliss, you put yourself
Professor of Biology | on a kind of a track that has been there
P.O.Box 3234 | the whole while, waiting for you, and the
Delta State University | life you ought to be living is the one you
Cleveland, MS 38733 | are living. --- Joseph Campbell
ph: 601-846-4247 \ _____ ____
fax: 601-846-4016 | \_____ _____/ \
email: bhayes@dsu.deltast.edu
Hi, labbers:
I like reading about naturalists -- Bates, Wallace, Huxley, et al. There
are several good collections of short biographies (Green Laurels -- I don't
remember the author -- and Early Men of Science in America). Of course,
women are missing from those accounts . . .
Cheers,
Kerry
**************************************************************************
"Caminante, no hay camino/Se hace camino al andar"
------ Machado
kkilburn@infi.net, at least for now
>To expand on our list of famous biologists/scientists - does anybody
have
>ideas/names of ones who were ethnic (or other) minorities. This come
up in
>terms of role models for minority
>students.
There is always one of my favorites, George Washington Carver. He did much
more than work with the peanut.
Kirsten
One such book is:
Pioneer Naturalists:The Discovery and Naming of North American Plants
and Animals. by Howard Ensign Evans 1993. Henry Holt and Co., Inc.
ISBN 0-8050-2339-9 QH 26.E77
He does mention women naturalists. There is also a book on women
naturalists that I do not own nor do I remember the title.
My addition to the famous biologists list includes:
Thomas Morgan
Jim Ingold
LSU-Shreveport, Louisiana
jingold@pilot.lsus.edu
Another book on famous scientists is Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia
of
Science and Technology. This contains information on the "lives and
achievements of 1510 great scientists from ancient times to the present"
I
have the second edition (1982) but I think that there is at least on more
recent edition. It is published by Doubleday & Co.
My addition to the list of scientists (who doesn't appear in the above
book) is Aldo Leopold. Leopold was not what most people would consider a
scientist, but more an environmental philosopher. His book A Sand County
Almanac was required reading in the undergraduate wildlife ecology course
I
took. I have read it many times since then and still find new insights in
it. There are several other books of his essays, but I think this is the
best.
Terry Davin
Biology and Allied Health
Penn Valley Community College
Kansas City MO 64111
davin@kcmetro.cc.mo.us
To expand on our list of famous biologists/scientists - does anybody have
ideas/names of ones who were ethnic (or other) minorities. This come up
in
terms of role models for minority
students.
Just...... black (African American) developmental biologist. Worked at the
beginning of this century. The American Society for Cell Biology started
an
award at its annual meeting in honor of Just. A postage stamp came out this
year with his picture.
Blystone in Texas
**********************
ROBERT V. BLYSTONE PHONE:(210)736-7243
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY FAX:(210)736-7229
Trinity University E-Mail:RBlyston@Trinity.edu
715 Stadium Drive
San Antonio, TX, 78212
Although neither Walter nor Louis Alvarez is a biologist,
their contribution to the mass extinctions debate--an
interesting paradigm shifting process in itself--has been
significant.
Ramon y Cajal, developer of silver stain techniques for
viewing nervous tissue preparations, is another Hispanic
name that comes to mind.
Michael Bucher 574-6516 <BUCHER@SMCCCD.CC.CA.US>
I second the addition of Aldo Leopold to the list of famous biologists.
While
his academic training was in Wildlife Management at the Univ. of Wisconsin,
he wrote extensively about field biology,ecology and environmental ethics
throughout his career. His is a good story to illustrate that a scientist,
like any human, has preconceptions about how the world works, but is able
to
make major adjustments when confronted with conflicting evidence. The essay
in which he describes the moment in which his feelings regarding predators
changed is particularly beautiful (called "A Fierce Green Light",
I believe.)
I would also add Wes Jackson, of the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, as
an
exemplary living biologist for students to interview/study. He and his staff
are researching ways to achieve sustainable permaculture in the Great Plains
by emulating native prairie. The research is published in peer-reviewed
journals, and the Land Institute simultaneously makes great effort at public
education and outreach about the need for sustainable agricultural systems.
Too many of us seem to avoid or neglect public outreach beyond our
classrooms, in my opinion.
Joy Perry
Univ. of Wisconsin-Fox Valley
P.O. Box 8002
Menasha, WI 54952
(414)832-2653
joyperry@uwcmail.uwc.edu
I agree that Aldo Leopold belongs in the list of scientists that is
being compiled by someone for readings about famous scientists in
freshman biology classes. I want to strongly disagree with the notion
that he "....wasn't what most people would call a scientist...".
Yes it's true that Leopold was a philosopher, and his books (that I make
it a point to reread occasionally also) deserve their continued popularity
among both scientists and others interested in nature.
Leopold helped establish wildlife biology as a science, did important
investigations in the relationships between vegetation and bird
(mostly game bird, but others as well) populations, wrote a major text
in wildlife biology and was chair of the wildlife ecology (by whatever
name it was known at the time) department at The University of Wisconsin
for many years. Leopold had five children, four of whom became members
of the National Academy of Sciences. Who can top that contribution? His
son (first name excapes me at the moment) was (is??) a leading hydrologist
and physical limnologist and headed the U. S. Geological Survey for a very
long time. Another son (Starker) was the leading academic wildlife ecologist
in California for a period of 30 years.
To me the most fascinating thing about Leopold's life is the fact that
the driving energy and curiosity in his family led to such scientific
involvement in the children.
Dave McNeely
MCNEELY@utb.edu
My votes for women biologists/naturalists: Lynn Margulis and Anne
LaBastille
Carol Morris
Tompkins Cortland Community College
Dryden NY
Hello Bio-labbers:
I've been following the group for awhile now, but this is my first post.
I
would add a not-so famous plant pathologist/geneticist to the list of famous
biologists (or those who should be famous?). My candidate is H.H. Flor from
North Dakota State University. Flor developed the gene-for-gene theory,
which describes the unique genetic interaction of plants and their
pathogens. It continues to serve as the paradigm for generations of plant
pathologists and plant breeders. The gene-for-gene theory provided the
intellectual underpinnings for the advances in plant breeding that spawned
the so-called "Green Revolution".
Although Flor was working in an applied area, his thinking was classically
biological and serves as a model for cracking open big problems. I've
included a reference for a brief biography on him and one of his review
papers on the gene-for-gene theory. Anyone interested in further references
can contact me.
Loegering, W.Q. and A.H. Ellingboe. 1987. H.H. Flor: Pioneer in
Phytopathology. Annual Review of Phytopathology 25: 59-66.
Flor, H.H. 1971. Current status of the gene-for-gene concept. Annual Review
of Phytopathology 9: 275-296.
Tom Chase
Plant Science Department
South Dakota State University
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa as a friend of mine use to say. I
apologize to Dave, Richard, and anyone else I may have offended by my
comments about Aldo Leopold and wildlife ecologists.
All of my undergrad and grad education was in either forestry or wildlife
ecology, so I also include those areas as science. And Leopold is most
definitely a scientist in my book. However either from lack of knowledge,
when Leopold did his work, or what ever reason, that undergrad ecology
course I had at Penn State was the only course I have ever had that
mentioned Leopold and his work -- either scientific or philosophically.
I
progbablly mention Leopold more in my general biology class than he was
mentioned in my graduate classes.
Richard, maybe your comments about -- "Leopold should be presented
to
students as an example of what ALL scientists should aspire to be - a
scientist who could write lucidly, intelligently, and passionately to the
non-scientist on issues stemming from scientific understanding, thus bring
about real, society-wide enlightenment" -- are why he is or was not
covered in any of my courses. I know my students and probably the general
public feel that if it is science then they should not be able to
understand it, and if they understand it, then it can not be science.
Hopefully I correct that misperception by the end of the semester, but that
is their opnion on day one of the semester.
Unfortunately I fell in to the same trap I just mentioned. I guess it was
too late in the day, and too close to finals for me to be thinking clearly
:-)
Terry Davin
Biology and Allied Health
Penn Valley Community College
Kansas City MO 64111
davin@kcmetro.cc.mo.us
You might want students to check out these sources:
American Women in Science--A biographical Dictionary, by Martha J. Bailey
Publisher ABC-CLIO, 1994
and
Nobel Prize Women in Science--Their lives, struggles and momentous
discoveries
by Sharon B. McGrayne
Publisher Carol Pub. Group, 1993
Susan J. Karcher, Ph.D.
Instructor in Biological Sciences
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1392
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
I received dozens of responses, with loads of suggestions for my students'
reports. Thank you!
Some of the students are quite excited about trying to contact their
subjects. Others wanted "someone dead" because they were intimidated
by the
idea of contacting someone personally. All in all, there were loads of
suggestions, representing the various sub-disciplines in biology.
As usual, biolab comes through. I do appreciate your assistance.
Nora Ann
__________________________________________________
Nora Ann Bennett
The Governor's School for Government and International Studies
4100 W. Grace St.
Richmond, VA 23230
(804) 780-6155
Email: NABennett@aol.com