Biographical Memoirs Volume 59 (1990) / Chapter Skim
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George Wells Beadle
George Wells Beadle
Pages 26-53
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From page 27... ...
In 1981, he gave up research altogether because of increasing disability from the Alzheimer's disease that eventually ended his life. EDUCATION AND EARLY ElFE Beadle his oldest friends usually called him by his boyhood nickname, "Beets" was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, to Hattie Albro and Chauncey Elmer Beadle, and he cried in Pomona, California, at age eighty-five.
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From page 28... ...
At some point along the way under Keim's beneficent influence, Beets became interested in fundamental genetics and was persuaded to apply to the graduate school at Cornell University instead of going back to the farm. He entered Cornell in 1927 with a graduate assistantship and shortly afterward joined R
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In 1928 he married Marion Hill, a graduate student in botany at Cornell, who assisted him with some of his early corn research. Their son, David, was born in 1931.
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gene mutation blocks formation of the corresponding substance. It was not clear until much later that the two substances are actually precursors of the pigment, and Ephrussi and Beadle frequently referred to them as "hormones." At the time, this small step was a great advance in the science of genetics, for it suggested that development could be broken clown into series of gene-controlled chemical reactions an idea that cried out for further investigation.
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No other nonautonomous traits were known in Drosophila, and the autonomous ones—of which there were many were of such towering complexity from the biochemical standpoint that it was hopeless to attempt to reduce them to their individual chemical steps. Beets enjoyed telling how the solution to this problem came to him while he was listening to Tatum lecture in a ' See p.
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From page 32... ...
If these differences were genetic in origin, he thought to himself, it should be possible to induce gene mutations that would produce new nutritional requirements in the test organism. Such an approach, if successful, would allow the researchers to identify genes governing known biochemical compounds immediately, as opposed to the years needed to identify the unknown substances controlled by the usual kinds of genes, including most of those then known.
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From page 33... ...
Related fungi, however, were known to have simple requirements, and Tatum soon showed that Neurospora would grow on a synthetic medium containing sugar, salts, and a single growth factorbiotin—thenceforth referred to as "minimal medium." Fortunately, purified concentrates of biotin tract recently become available, ant] nothing now stood in the way of an experimental test of BeacIle's idea.
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From page 34... ...
These mutants were the subject of the first Neurospora paper by Beadle and Tatum (1941,21. Before long, mutants requiring amino acids, purines, and pyrimidines were also found, and the science of biochemical genetics had been born.
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This lecture proved, said Went, that biology is not a finished subject- there are still great discoveries to be made! " Neurospora Newsletter 20~1973~:4-6 BEADLE AS LABORATORY HEAD David Bonner and ~ accepted appointments with Beadle and joined his group at Stanford the following year.
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As ~ recall, no senior researcher or graduate student was drafted, although some of us were called up for physical examinations. Practical applications of Neurospora research were of potential utility to the war effort in developing bioassays for vitamins and amino acids in preserved foods, and in searching for new vitamins and amino acids.
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Tatum's student Joshua Lederberg, using the resulting mutants, demonstrated genetic recombination in E cold and thereby founded modern bacterial genetics.
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In an autobiographical sketch published in 1974, Beets made the following revealing statement about his decision to give up laboratory research: "In my own situation, I tried a quarter of a century ago what I thought of as an experiment in combining research in biochemical genetics with a substantial commitment to academic administration. I soon found that, unlike a number of my more versatile colleagues, I could not do justice to
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all expectations. Faculty appointments made during his tenure as chairman included Max Delbruck, Renato Dulbecco, Ray Owen, Robert Sinsheimer, and Roger Sperry.
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) In 1968 Beadle attained mandatory retirement age.
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George Beadle has passed into history now. His papers are rarely read anymore; his lively presence is no longer felt.
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42 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS Pamela Lewis, and Ray Owen. For answering my questions on a variety of matters, I thank Marion Beadle, Walton Galinat, Barbara McClintock, Oliver Nelson, lane Overton, and Bernard Strauss.
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GEORGE WELLS BEADLE HONORS AND DISTINCTIONS HONORARY DEGREES Doctor of Science 1947 Yale University 1949 University of Nebraska 1952 Northwestern University 1954 Rutgers University 1955 Kenyon College 1956 Wesleyan University 1959 Birmingham University 1959 Oxford University 1961 Pomona College 1962 Lake Forest College 1963 University of Rochester 1963 University of Illinois lD64 Brown University 1964 Kansas State University 1964 1966 1967 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 University of Pennsylvania Wabash College Syracuse University Loyola University, Chicago Hanover College Eureka College Butler University Gustavus Adolphus College Indiana State University I-egum Doctor (LL .D.) 1962 University of California, Los Angeles 1963 University of Miami 1963 Brandeis University 1966 Johns Hopkins University 1966 Beloit College 1969 University of Michigan 43
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Lederberg) National Award, American Cancer Society Kimber Genetics Award Priestley Memorial Award Edison Prize, Best Science Book for Youth (with Muriel Beadle)
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National Academy of Sciences (Council, 1969-1972) American Philosophical Society American Academy of Arts and Sciences Royal Society Danish Royal Academy of Sciences Japan Academy Instituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettre (Milan)
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Nat., 68: 189-192. A gene for supernumerary mitoses during spore development in Zea mays.
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Crossing-over near the spindle fiber in attachedX chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster.
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Developpement des couleurs des yeux chez la Drosophile: Influence des implants sur la couleur des yeux de l'hote.
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43-56. Development of eye colors in Drosophila: Fat bodies and Malpighian tubes in relation to diffusible substances.
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Development of eye colors in Drosophila: Production of v+ hormone by fat bodies.
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II. Methods of producing and detecting mutations concerned with nutritional requirements.
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Bull., 43:2-11. 1973 Thomas Hunt Morgan.
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