Félix d`Herelle and the Origins of Molecular Biology - Hardcover

Summers, William C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300071272 ISBN 13: 9780300071276

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1999

Synopsis

A self-taught scientist determined to bring science out of the laboratory and into the practical arena, French-Canadian Felix d’Herelle (1873-1949) made history in two different fields of biology. Not only was he first to demonstrate the use and application of bacteria for biological control of insect pests, he also became a seminal figure in the history of molecular biology. This engaging book is the first full biography of d’Herelle, a complex figure who emulated Louis Pasteur and influenced the course of twentieth-century biology, yet remained a controversial outsider to the scientific community.

Drawing on family papers, archival sources, interviews, and d’Herelle’s published and unpublished writings, Dr. William C. Summers tells the fascinating story of the scientist’s life and the work that took him around the globe. In 1917, d’Herelle published the first paper describing the phenomenon of the bacteriophage and its biological nature. A series of more than 110 articles and 6 major books followed, in which d’Herelle established the foundation for the later work of the Phage Group in molecular biology. Yet d’Herelle sometimes inspired animosity in others--he was drummed out of the Pasteur Institute, he held only one brief permanent position in the scientific establishment (at Yale University from 1928 to 1933), and he was bewildered by the social nuances of the world of international science. His story is more than the biography of a single brilliant scientist; it is also a fascinating chapter in the history of biology.

About this title

About the Author:

William C. Summers, M.D., is professor of therapeutic radiology; molecular biophysics and biochemistry; genetics; and in the graduate program in history of medicine and science at Yale University. He is also lecturer in history at Yale University and editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.

From The New England Journal of Medicine:

The history of the biomedical revolution is somewhat vague, even to most scientists participating in it. Although the names Watson and Crick are well known, little has been written about the rich history of molecular biology that preceded the discovery of DNA and the double helix. Felix d'Herelle and the Origins of Molecular Biology is a much-needed attempt to fill this gap. Felix d'Herelle was a remarkable person, who with only a high-school education, became one of the most accomplished bacteriologists of his day. He was best known for his discovery of bacteriophages, viruses that can infect and destroy bacteria. Subsequently, bacteriophages became the model organisms for studies that spawned much of our knowledge of molecular genetics.

Although d'Herelle was an outsider to the scientific establishment, he was awarded an honorary medical degree by the University of Leiden in 1924 and the Medal of the Pasteur Institute in 1947. In 1928, he accepted an appointment as a tenured professor at Yale Medical School, at the then munificent salary of $10,000 with guaranteed laboratory support. This appointment, the climax of a career previously marked by d'Herelle's inability to secure a permanent position at any major research establishment, including the Pasteur Institute (where he never rose above the level of an untenured laboratory worker), lasted only until 1933, when d'Herelle resigned.

During much of his scientific career, d'Herelle oversaw a successful commercial bacteriologic laboratory in Paris, which seemed to ensure his financial security. Summers suggests that d'Herelle's nomadic life was largely the result of his disagreeable personality and problems with authority. Although these aspects undoubtedly played a part, it is also likely that his status as an outsider without a scientific patron was a contributing factor. It would have been fascinating if Summers had seized on this theme and used d'Herelle's experience as the backdrop for a discussion of the sociology of science and the role of the patron and the institution in the development of young scientists.

Aside from theoretical interest in and speculation about the role of the bacteriophage in the biosphere, d'Herelle and his contemporaries were quick to realize that an organism capable of destroying bacteria could play a major part in the medical treatment of bacteria-borne diseases. This realization, in fact, became the subject of the chief medical novel of the day, Arrowsmith, written by Sinclair Lewis with the scientific aid of Paul de Kruif, author of the acclaimed popular-science book Microbe Hunters. However, with the advent of sulfa drugs and antibiotics, interest in the therapeutic possibilities of bacteriophages flagged. Almost simultaneously, Max Delbruck and the "phage group" used bacteriophages to make the discoveries that led to the origins of molecular biology. Much of the initial work on the nature of genetic expression and its regulation was performed with bacteriophages. In fact, immediately before his studies of the structure of DNA, James Watson had earned his Ph.D. by working on a bacteriophage-related project in Salvador Luria's laboratory. Sadly, Summers discusses little of the role of bacteriophages in these developments arising from d'Herelle's discovery.

This book, the only contemporary study of d'Herelle, will be of interest to historians of science and of medicine, sociologists, and anyone who is interested in the origins and growth of the biomedical revolution of the 20th century. Notwithstanding the value of traditional antibiotics, the current dangerous increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics may lead to a resumption of the development of the discarded bacteriophage-based therapies. If this happens, Felix d'Herelle, the founder of "phagology," will be granted greater respect and attention and will enter the hall of fame for microbe hunters.

Reviewed by Donald A. Chambers, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2000 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0300071272
• ISBN 13: 9780300071276
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 248