Obituary: Robert Spencer

Robert Spencer 12 March 1923 – 21 September 1994, by Chris Mead¸     

Robert Koch

This article traces the origins of bacteriological research, with particular attention to the role of Robert Koch, and his postulates, on infectious agents. By chronologically following Koch's work on anthrax, germ photography and tuberculosis, it shows how the visual representation of germs transformed laboratory research in medical science.     

Biography of Professor Robert W. Ledeen

Biography

Biography of Professor Robert W. Ledeen     

The Dark Side of Humanity: The Work of Robert Herte and Its Legacy

The Dark Side of Humanity: The Work of Robert Herte and Its Legacy, Robert Parkin. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1996. 226 pp.     

Ethnology in the metropole: Robert Knox, Robert Gordon Latham and local sites of observational training

Anthropologists have traditionally separated the history of their discipline into two main diverging methodological paradigms: nineteenth-century armchair theorizing, and twentieth-century field-based research. But this tradition obscures both the complexity of the observational practices of early nineteenth-century researchers and the high degree of continuity between these practices and the techniques that came later. While historians have long since abandoned the notion that nineteenth-century ethnologists and anthropologists were merely ‘armchair’ theorists, this paper shows that there is still much to learn once one asks more insistently what the observational practices of early researchers were actually like. By way of bringing out this complexity and continuity, this essay re-examines the work of two well-known British ethnologists, Robert Knox, and Robert Gordon Latham; looking in particular at their methods of observing, analysing and representing different racial groups. In the work of each figure, early training in natural history, anatomy and physiology can be seen to have influenced their observational practices when it came to identifying and classifying human varieties. Moreover, in both cases, Knox and Latham developed locally-based observational training sites.     

The last illnesses of Robert and Horace Walpole

Urinary lithiasis and gout were uncommonly prevalent in the eighteenth century. This essay considers the history of both afflictions and especially tells of the last illnesses of Sir Robert Walpole, who died from complications of stone, and his son, Horace, who throughout his life was a sufferer of gout.     

Filmmaker to Filmmaker: Robert Gardner and the Cinematic Process

Choices made in the reissue of many of Robert Gardner's groundbreaking films—including Dead Birds (1964), Rivers of Sand (1973), and Forest of Bliss (1986)—on DVD demonstrate how new media tools can reinvigorate questions generated by the original works and how they can provide new insight into a filmmaker's praxis. The juxtaposition of differing media and the integration of commentary track conversations in many of these works with media makers and scholars such as Stan Brakhage, Robert Fenz, Ross McElwee, Akos Ostor, and Lucien Taylor provide unique vantage points from which to view the original documentaries and reconsider the lessons they yield. Gardner's concurrent publication of his diary and production notes in the book Impulse to Preserve (2006) contextualizes and personalizes these works, showing how they fit together in a career of innovative ethnographic production that has spanned over 50 years.     

Robert Collett: Norwegens V?gel und deren geographische Verbreitung daselbst

Ohne ZusammenfassungNorges Fugle og deres geograph. Udbredelse i Landet af Robert Collett. Vedensk. Selsk. Förhandlingar, Christiania 1868.     

100th anniversary of Robert Koch's Nobel Prize for the discovery of the tubercle bacillus

The year 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of Robert Koch's Nobel Prize. Here, we describe the scientific career of Robert Koch, the discoverer of the etiologic agent of tuberculosis but also of those of anthrax, cholera and wound infections. Equally important, Koch developed the methodologies and concepts that made medical microbiology a scientific discipline. Despite great efforts, however, Koch failed to conquer tuberculosis, which still causes enormous health problems worldwide 100 years after his Nobel award.     

The Romantic Conception of Robert J. Richards

In his new book, The RomanticConception of Life: Science and Philosophyin the Age of Goethe, Robert J. Richardsargues that Charles Darwin's trueevolutionary roots lie in the German Romanticbiology that flourished around thebeginning of the nineteenth century. It isargued that Richards is quite wrong in thisclaim and that Darwin's roots are in theBritish society within which he was born,educated, and lived.     

Athabaskan Language Studies: Essays in Honor of Robert W. Young

Athabaskan Language Studies: Essays in Honor of Robert W. Young. Eloise Jelinek Sally Midgette. Keren Rice. and Leslie Saxon. eds. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 490 pp.     

The life and times of Robert Smith

Summary

Robert Smith (1874–1900) is credited with having made the first systematic ecological studies to be carried out in Britain. His childhood in Dundee is described and consideration is given to the possible influence of his brother William and of the countryside of Angus and Ayrshire in forming his early interest in field botany and vegetation science. His pioneering studies were encouraged by Patrick Geddes and D'Arcy Thompson, and later by Charles Flahault in Montpellier, so that Smith became an outstanding teacher and researcher at a time of momentous developments in the natural sciences.     

A reflection of the lasting contributions from Dr. Robert Bittman to sterol trafficking,sphingolipid and phospholipid research

With the passing of Dr. Robert Bittman from pancreatic cancer on the 1st October 2014, the lipid research field lost one of the most influential and significant personalities. Robert Bittman's genius was in chemical design and his contribution to the lipid research field was truly immense. The reagents and chemicals he designed and synthesised allowed interrogation of the role of lipids in constituting complex biophysical membranes, sterol transfer and in cellular communication networks. Here we provide a review of these works which serve as a lasting memory to his life.     

Robert Traub (1916-1996): additional publications and patronyms.

Full citations are provided for four posthumously published papers coauthored or inspired by the late Robert Traub, the greatest authority on fleas and flea-borne diseases who ever lived. Seven additional patronyms, five posthumous and two newly discovered, bring to 41 the total number of taxa named for this preeminent medical entomologist.     

A tribute to Robert John Porra (august 7, 1931–may 16, 2019)

Photosynthesis Research - Robert John Porra (7.8.1931–16.5.2019) is probably best known for his substantial practical contributions to plant physiology and photosynthesis by addressing the...     

Robert Earle Buchanan: an unappreciated scientist

Robert Earle Buchanan (1883-1973), 19th President of the Society of American Bacteriologists (later American Society for Microbiology), was one of the more important 20th century microbiologists. He was a dominant force in creating the field of bacterial systematics and made significant contributions to microbial physiology. He also numbered a number of influential textbooks. A reasonable conclusion is that Buchanan was a major cultivator of modern microbiology. To justify that assertion, I have four major objectives in this essay: i) a brief biographical review of Buchanan's early life; ii) a brief review of his scientific contributions, many of which go beyond his recognized contributions to bacterial systematics; iii) Buchanan was an important academic administrator who created the microbiology program and fostered a strong graduate education program at Iowa State, iv)finally, I close the essay with a focus on Buchanan's "moral character."     

Robert Rosen in the age of systems biology

The widespread use of the term Systems Biology (SB) signals a welcome recognition that organisms must be understood as integrated systems. Although just what this is taken to mean varies from one group to another, it generally implies a focus on biological functions and processes rather than on biological parts and a reliance on mathematical modeling to arrive at an understanding of these biological processes based on biological observations or measurements. SB, thus, falls directly in the line of reflection carried out by Robert Rosen throughout his work. In the present article, we briefly introduce the various currents of SB and then point out several ways Rosen's work can be used to avoid certain pitfalls associated with the use of dynamical systems models for the study of complex systems, as well as to inspire a productive path forward based on loosely organized cooperation among dispersed laboratories.