PROJECT
In
SCIENCE
[Biologists]
Submitted by:
Joseph Molon
Su
bmitted to:
T. Rowell Costelo
Foreign Biologists
Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
Rachel Carson was born May 27, 1907, in Springdale, Pa. A solitary child, she spent
long hours learning of field, pond, and forest from her mother. At college she studied
creative writing and in 1932 obtained a master's degree in biology from the Johns
Hopkins University. She did postgraduate studies at the Woods Hole Marine Biological
Laboratory.
In 1936, Carson served as an aquatic biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. After
her first book, Under the Sea Wind (1941), she soon became editor in chief of the
Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1951 The Sea around Us
brought its author instant fame. At the top of the best-seller list for 39 weeks, it was
translated into 30 languages. For it, the shy, soft-spoken Carson received the
National Book Award, the Gold Medal of the New York Zoological Society, and the
John Burroughs Medal.
The following year Carson left the government to undertake fulltime writing and
research. As a scientist and as an observant human being, she was increasingly
disturbed by the overwhelming effects of technology upon the natural world. She
wrote at the time: "I suppose my thinking began to be affected soon after atomic
science was firmly established … It was pleasant to believe that much of Nature was
forever beyond the tampering reach of man: I have now opened my eyes and my
mind. I may not like what I see, but it does no good to ignore it."
When Silent Spring appeared in 1962, the lyric pen and analytical mind of Carson
produced an impact equaled by few scientists; she aroused an entire nation. More
than a billion dollars worth of chemical sprays was being sold and used in America
each year. But when Carson traced the course of chlorinated hydrocarbons through
energy cycles and food chains, she found that highly toxic materials, contaminating
the environment and persisting for many years in waters and soils, also tended to
accumulate in the human body. While target insect species were developing
immunities to pesticides, because of these poisons birds were not reproducing. She
proposed strict limitations on spraying programs and an accelerated research effort
to develop natural, biological controls for harmful insects.
The pesticide industry reacted with a massive campaign to discredit Carson and her
findings. Firmly and gently, she spent the next 2 years educating the public at large:
"I think we are challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our
maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves." She died on April, 14,
1964, at Silver Spring, Md.
In the 1950s Carson's articles and popular books about marine biology, notably The
Sea Around Us in 1951, which won numerous prizes, made her familiar to readers
interested in science or the sea. In the 1960s Carson's Silent Spring prompted
worldwide interest in the environment and concern about the damage caused by
chemical pesticides. Carson's book and publicity surrounding it led to the 1972 ban
on DDT in the United States.
Anton Van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723)
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) was born, and also died, in the city of Delft in
the Netherlands. Although a linen draper by profession, Leeuwenhoek learned to
make lenses and built over five hundred simple microscopes to conduct his numerous
personal experiments. With these instruments, Leeuwenhoek investigated the natural
world, including water, soil, and human excretions. Because he is considered the first
person to have viewed and documented the existence of microscopic organisms,
including bacteria, he has been called the first of the microbe hunters.
His lack of formal scientific training led Leeuwenhoek to concentrate on making
observations rather than offering theories. Although he never published his work,
Leeuwenhoek described his findings in a series of 165 letters to the Royal Society of
London, beginning in 1673 and ending only with his death. His first letter, dated April
28, 1673, details his microscopic inspections of mold and bees.
His most famous letter is dated October 9, 1676. This letter communicates the results
of a series of experiments on water infused with pepper. Leeuwenhoek began by
examining some snow-water that he had kept sealed for three years. He noted no
creatures. He then added some peppercorns to the solution, and, after three weeks,
he discovered the sudden appearance of a tremendous number of "very little
animals." Judging by his calculations of their number and size, historians have
surmised that Leeuwenhoek had become the first person to see bacteria. Colleagues
reproduced his experiments in the months that followed. Given contemporary
medical theories, it did not occur to Leeuwenhoek that what he saw with his
microscope was in any way connected to disease, but his observations laid a
foundation on which further investigations were born.
Leeuwenhoek made single-lens microscopes with exquisite lenses; with them he
became the first person to see ciliated protists, which he called "animalcules" and
"wretched beasties." He also discovered Hydra, rotifers, bacteria, and the sperm of
dogs and other animals.
Aristotle (384 B.C– 322 B.C)
Aristotle was born in the small Greek town of Stagiros (later Stagira) in the northern
Greek district of Chalcidice. His father, Nicomachus, was a physician who had
important social connections, and Aristotle's interest in science was surely spurred by
his father's work, although Aristotle does not display a particularly keen interest in
medicine as such. The events of his early life are not clear, but it is possible that his
father served at the Macedonian court as physician to Amyntas II and that Aristotle
spent part of his youth there.
At the age of 17 Aristotle joined Plato's circle at the Academy in Athens. There he
remained for 20 years, and although his respect and admiration for Plato was always
great, differences developed which ultimately caused a breach. On Plato's death in
348/347 B.C. Aristotle left for Assos in Mysia (in Asia Minor), where he and
Xenocrates joined a small circle of Platonists who had already settled there under
Hermias, the ruler of Atarneus. Aristotle married Pythias, the niece of Hermias, and in
a fine hymn expressed his shock and dismay over Hermias's death at the hands of
the Persians some time thereafter.
After 3 years in Assos with Theophrastus and Xenocrates, Aristotle went to Mytilene
for 2 years. Later, Theophrastus and Aristotle made their way to the court of Philip of
Macedon, where Aristotle became tutor to Alexander, who later gained immortality
by becoming master of the whole Persian Empire. Scant information remains
regarding the specific contents of Alexander's education at the hands of Aristotle, but
it would be interesting to know what political advice Aristotle imparted to the young
Alexander. The only indication of such advice is found in the fragment of a letter in
which the philosopher tells Alexander that he ought to be the leader of the Greeks
but the master of the barbarians (foreigners).
Aristotle is one of the "big three" in ancient Greek philosophy, along with Plato and
Socrates. (Socrates taught Plato, who in turn instructed Aristotle.) Aristotle spent
nearly 20 years at Plato's Academy, first as a student and then as a teacher. After
Plato's death he traveled widely and educated a famous pupil, Alexander the Great,
the Macedonian who nearly conquered the world. Later Aristotle began his own
school in Athens, known as the Lyceum. Aristotle is known for his carefully detailed
observations about nature and the physical world, which laid the groundwork for the
modern study of biology. Among his works are the texts Physics, Metaphysics,
Rhetoric and Ethics. He was succeeded at the Lyceum by his student Theophrastus.
Filipino Biologists
Angel Alcala
Angel Alcala has more than thirty years of experience in tropical marine resource
conservational. Angel Alcala is considered a world class authority in ecology and
biogeography of amphibians and reptiles, and is behind the invention of artificial
coral reefs to be used for fisheries in Southeast Asia. Angel Alcala is the Director of
the Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management.
Angel Alcala has done the most comprehensive studies on Philippine amphibians and
reptiles, and minor studies on birds and mammals. His research done between 1954
to 1999 lead to the addition of fifty new species of amphibians and reptiles.
Edgardo Gomez
Edgardo Gomez is a marine biologist with more than 30 years of experience in
his native Philippines. He specialized in coral reefs, marine ecology, mariculture,
education and resource management. His primary focus is on marine ecosystem and
coastal conservation. Gomez has worked in academia for many years, first serving as
dean of Student Affairs at La Salle University in Bacolod City before joining the faculty
of the University of the Philippines-Diliman. Prior to his current position as professor
in Marine Biology at the Marine Science Institute, he was an assistant professor,
associate professor and director of the Marine Science Institute at the university.
