Edward B. Lewis, 1918-2004

It hasn't been a good week for biology. I've just learned that Francis Crick has died, and while I was at SDB I heard news that grieved me even more: Ed Lewis has died.

Lewis was one of the giants of Drosophila genetics. He was a student of Thomas Hunt Morgan, and one of the rare practitioners of pure genetics at the time molecular biology was swallowing up the field. He's mentioned several times in Jonathan Weiner's book, Time, Love, Memory (you've all read it, right? If not, get it—it's a wonderful view of neurobiology and genetics and molecular biology, from the perspective of Seymour Benzer). I'll quote a few passages from that book that give a taste of what Lewis was like.

Continue reading "Edward B. Lewis, 1918-2004" (on Pharyngula)