Pharmacologists at the recent Experimental Biology meeting in Washington were excited about their Abel numbers [Six degrees of pharmacology]. The Abel number represents the number of links to John J. Abel, the founder of modern pharmacology. In this case the links have to be through authors on a publication.I wonder who we could choose for biochemistry?
I can't make any suggestions for biochemisty but for microbiology I vote for CB Van Neil. From the link:
ReplyDeletePerhaps the greatest contribution of Van Niel to microbiology was his teaching. His unusual technique of conveying the scientific message and his extraordinary ability to inspire led the top brains in this country to devote their careers to the development of General Microbiology and Comparative Biochemistry for several decades. His lecture techniques were derived partly from his own teachers, such as Beijerinck and Kluyver, and created from his own talents. His lectures often lasted for several hours and were presented with such clarity and histrionic skill as to capture the complete attention and stimulate the enthusiasm of his students. The lectures sounded as though he delivered universal truth and required the student’s whole attention. No one ever felt tired. Van Niel gave you the impression that you were participating in the most significant part of scientific progress. Every one of his students were so highly inspired and excited that they were willing to devote their whole career to the endeavor of microbiological research. This kind of inspiration and his personal charisma is beyond imagination. For instance, this author listened to his lecture only once, but changed his study concept and decided to choose microbiology as his subject. Some notable scientists would give up their original disciplines and choose to devote themselves to aspects of microbiology for research. Many of his students and postdoctorates became the major pioneers of different fields of microbiology. His influence on the development of microbiology in the United States, particularly on the West Coast, has been tremendous. He is surely the major pioneer in the development of microbiology and comparative biochemistry of our time.
another way of thinking about it could be through scientific parents (supervisors), granparents, siblings (coworkers) etc, rather than through co-authorships. That would make an interesting chart.
ReplyDeleteFirst, congratulations for your mention in Cell journal. Second, who we could suggest for genetics? Thomas Morgan, Barbara McClintock or Craig Venter? Interesting question...
ReplyDeleteI am afraid it won't work with Mendel.
ReplyDeleteDave Bridges said...
ReplyDeleteanother way of thinking about it could be through scientific parents (supervisors), granparents, siblings (coworkers) etc, rather than through co-authorships. That would make an interesting chart.
Looked at that way, Larry has quite a pedigree.
Larry Moran begat of Bruce Alberts (NAS President); begat of Paul Doty; begat of Joseph Edward Mayer ; begat of Gilbert N. Lewis (of Lewis dots); begat of Theodore William Richards (Nobelist); begat of Victor Meyer (of the apparatus); begat of Robert Bunsen (of burner fame). Then history gets a little hazy...
There is off course also a famous mathematician named Abel. :-)
ReplyDeleteanother way of thinking about it could be through scientific parents (supervisors), granparents, siblings (coworkers) etc, rather than through co-authorships. That would make an interesting chart.
ReplyDeleteI like this one. I can trace my "ancestry" through academia this way to Dobzhansky, via my M.Sc. advisor, begat by Mike Wade, the last graduate student of T. Dobzhansky. A short journey to greatness.
A nice tool to visualize co-authorship is PubNet developed by Mark Gerstein's group. Since it employs the PubMed syntax it is easy to use. You will find it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://pubnet.gersteinlab.org/
Larry, my namesake Abel wasn't too far removed from biochemistry as he helped to launch the JBC while at Hopkins. Remember, though, that Abel was only the father of North American pharmacology. He trained with Oswald Schmeideberg who trained with Rudolf Buchheim, both considered by many to be THE fathers of pharmacology.
ReplyDeleteI'd take your approach to look at Nobel laureates. Eduard Buchner won the 1907 Nobel in Chemistry for his work on fermentation, demonstrating it could occur in cell-free yeast extracts. Would you consider him the father of biochemistry?