Chad and I both listen to ESPN's Mike and Mike in the mornings. The last couple of days they've been trying to figure out what four athletes belong on the Mount Rushmore of sports (they settled on Muhammed Ali, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky). While I was sitting around wondering if they would even mention Pele, Chad thought it would be cool to come up with a Mount Rushmore of Science. I'm not going to tackle such a broad topic. Instead, I ask who belongs on a Mount Rushmore of Biology, which I'd like to call Mount Biodome. My suggestions are below the fold -- and, no, they include neither Pauly Shore nor Stephen Baldwin.
This is kinda like my attempt to come up with the best biology experiment (also inspired by Chad), only we're talking icons here. I study evolutionary genetics, so this list will be biased towards molecular biologists, evolutionary biologists, and geneticists. It will also be biased towards iconic figures, so we'll probably end up excluding someone who has made a name for themselves in the past few years. Here are my sure fire locks for Mount Biodome:
- Charles Darwin: The father of evolution by natural selection is the icon of biology. As Teddy D famously wrote, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." Evolution wasn't Darwin's idea, but he proposed one of the most important mechanisms. He's also the only biologist who made Chad's list of top 3 science icons. The only thing left to do is decide whether we should carve out Darwin's visage as a young man, middle aged, or old man.
- Gregor Mendel: Dude came up with genetics. Mendel was the first to realize that traits are inherited as discrete units rather than by blending. This, along with Darwin's theory of natural selection, makes evolutionary biology feasible. As I not so famously wrote, "Nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of genetics." But it's not just the implications on evolution -- it's impossible to imagine modern biology without genetics. Plus, he's got a bit of an iconic image.
- Thomas Hunt Morgan: I have a feeling that this one won't go over so well. Darwin and Mendel are locks. Morgan's students (Sturtevant, Beadle, Lewis, Muller, etc) did a lot of the heavy lifting, but so much revolutionary work went on in Morgan's lab or came from people who passed through the lab that his influence on 20th century biology is immeasurable. He and his students took Mendel's ideas regarding genetics to a whole new level that I can't leave him off this list. This mug would look nice up on Mount Biodome.
That gives us three faces for Mount Biodome. All that's left is the so called "Teddy Roosevelt spot". Who do you think belongs up there? Do you think one of the three people I mentioned above should be taken down? Should Dobzhanksy go up alongside those three? It would be nice to put up either James Watson or Francis Crick, but how do we choose which one? Is there someone else from your area of the life sciences that belongs? Leave suggestions, critiques, and insults in the comments.
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This is fun! I have no answers, but a question or two.
Should you consider which sub-discipline of biology is most important and choose from scientists in that?
Ecologists? Modern evolutionary theorists? Microbiologists? Biochemists? Bio-medical researchers?
Do you pick people important because of the influence of their methodologies? or those that are important because of their particular discoveries?
Aristotle has to have the Washington spot. He's considered the Father of Biology, after all.
Fisher?
Forget Morgan. Put Linnaeus in his place. Roosevelt is difficult -- how about Fisher? Or William Harvey?
It would be nice to put up either James Watson or Francis Crick, but how do we choose which one?
By picking Rosalind Franklin. And personally, I'd dump Morgan for Linnaeus.
What about Louis Pasteur? He would seem like the obvious choice.
Kary Mullis! The man invented PCR while on acid. You have to give him a bit of rock for that.
Him or Ignaz Semmelweis, who showed that hand washing prevented disease transmission. Okay, that may be a more medical mountain candidate. Pasteur would be an acceptable alternative for the same period and related discoveries.
You just like Morgan because he worked on flies. Sorry, but for biology as a whole he just doesn't cut it.
R.A. Fisher would be another candidate.
Yay! My choice (Fisher) is already well nominated. How about Fisher at one end, Wright at the other, and Haldane and Maynard Smith in the middle, trying to keep the peace.
And there's someone else considered important in evolutionary biolgy. What's his name? ... Ah, yes. Charles Darwin.
Bob
Darwin, Pauling, Mendel, Linnaeus