Historical Adventures in Scientific Discovery: Microbiology/Biochemistry

ERRATUM: on p.87 bottom, delete [see Figure 1].Recent textbooks are generally deficient in respect to the history of major discoveries in microbiology/biochemistry. These "Historical Adventures" focus on the backgrounds and contributions of a number of relatively unknown pioneering investigators, as well as some of the familiar "giants." This publication is part of "An Experiment in Scientific Biography". A companion part, "Associations with distinguished scientists ..." can be accessed at https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/2022/1083/1/Gestfinal.pdf

History of the Origin, Evolution, and Demise of NASA’s Oxymoronic “Astrobiology” and a Modest Proposal to Educate Dabblers in Microbiology Research

This article relates to and updates other articles by Howard Gest already in the IU ScholarWorks repository.This essay presents a select Time Line for early speculations on “extraterrestrial life” and attempts to obtain experimental evidence for past or present life on the Moon and Mars. To date, there is no credible evidence for “life elsewhere,” even the simplest forms (microbes). Nevertheless, NASA continues to trumpet “astrobiology,” an oxymoron that suggests or implies that life has actually been found beyond Earth. NASA exploits the fallacious notion that the existence of terrestrial bacteria able to live under “extreme” chemical or physical conditions (“extremophiles”) provides evidence for “astrobiology.” In December 2010, NASA announced, in a massive publicity event, that their grantees isolated a bacterium from sediment mud of Mono Lake (CA) that defies basic biochemical principles of all known forms of life on Earth in that arsenic replaces phosphorus in its DNA and other P–containing essential metabolites. The so-called evidence for the “Arsenic Monster” [a presumed harbinger for “astrobiology”] has been strongly criticized and is being rigorously tested by independent investigators

A Historical Account of the Origin, Evolution, and Demise of NASA’s Oxymoronic “Astrobiology”/ The “Arsenic Monster” of Mono Lake/ and a Modest Proposal to Educate Dabblers in Microbiology Research

This essay presents a select Time Line for early speculations on “extraterrestrial life” and attempts to obtain experimental evidence for past or present life on the Moon and Mars. To date, there is no credible evidence for “life elsewhere,” even the simplest forms (microbes). Nevertheless, NASA continues to trumpet “astrobiology,” an oxymoron that suggests or implies that life has actually been found beyond Earth. NASA exploits the fallacious notion that the existence of terrestrial bacteria able to live under “extreme” chemical or physical conditions (“extremophiles”) provides evidence for “astrobiology.” In December 2010, NASA announced, in a massive publicity event, that their grantees isolated a bacterium from sediment mud of Mono Lake (CA) that defies basic biochemical principles of all known forms of life on Earth in that arsenic replaces phosphorus in its DNA and other P–containing essential metabolites. The so-called evidence for the “Arsenic Monster” [a presumed harbinger for “astrobiology”] has been strongly criticized and is being rigorously tested by independent investigators. These include Rosie Redfield and her collaborators who hope to submit their work to Science in early 2012

Reflections on Scientific Lives: A microbiologist/biochemist surveys the changing scene

Current microbiology/biochemistry textbooks are encyclopedic tomes which include little information about the scientists in academia and non-profit research institutes who erected the extensive framework of our current knowledge. This essay discusses the dubious notion that a new major kind of “scientific life” is emerging in biotechnology…a blend of unfettered academic (“basic”) research and industrial (“applied”) research. Examples are given of outstanding academic scientists whose creativity in seeking new basic knowledge of cell (and virus) growth, biochemistry, and genetics led to the major tools of the applied biotechnology industry

Howard Gest Special Collection: Associations with outstanding scientists during a research career in microbiology and biochemistry

Associations with distinguished scientists during an academic career of over 60 years. Memorabilia include various research papers, books, correspondence, photographs and obituaries

The Modern Myth of “Unculturable” Bacteria/ Scotoma of contemporary microbiology

Topic of current debate.Critique of the myth of unculturability of most microbes living in natur

Facts and Myths about Authentic Bacteria/Lessons from Pioneers of Microbiology

Study of pure cultures of bacteria provided (a) the major basis of understanding their dynamic roles in the status of Earth’s biosphere and (b) systems for biochemical and molecular biological analysis of the processes involved. This article calls attention to pioneering microbiological studies underlying relevant contemporary research.A commentary on sundry aspects of bacteria in the natural world and in the laboratory, touching on: diversity, nutrition, the species concept, classification and taxonomy, “computer bacteroids,” the “unculturability” myth, “astrobiology.” extremophiles, and Gest’s Postulate

Homage to Ferdinand J. Cohn, Driving Force in the Emergence of Modern Microbiology

This essay reviews the life and career of German scientist Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898). A botanist by training, Cohn was a major force in establishing bacteriology/microbiology as a scientific discipline. He was a mentor of bacteriologist Robert Koch (Nobel Laureate 1905) and had significant interactions with Charles Darwin. Cohn was important in demolishing the erroneous idea of “spontaneous generation” of living organisms and was a pioneer in advancing concepts of microbial taxonomy

Discovery and Exploration of the Microbial Universe: 1665 to "Modern Times"

Recent research has shown that the first observation and published depiction of a microorganism (Mucor) was made by Robert Hooke (1665), whose microscope expertise facilitated the later discovery of bacteria by Antoni v. Leeuwenhoek. In 1835, Agostino Bassi proved that an infectious disease of animals was caused by a microbe. Forty years later, Ferdinand Cohn's research ushered in the age of "modern microbiology," with major contributions from Robert Koch, Martinus Beijerinck, and Sergei Winogradsky. The present essay also highlights a number of subsequent investigators who discovered fundamental aspects of microbial (and virus) growth and biochemical mechanisms. Nowadays, scientists whose research provided the basis of microbial molecular biology are sometimes recognized by single-line entries in textbook tables