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Honoring David Baltimore
Former Rockefeller president receives 2004 honorary doctorate
BY CATHY YARBROUGH
David Baltimore, who received his Ph.D. from
Rockefeller in 1964, last week became the first Rockefeller
University alumnus to receive the Honorary Doctor of Science
degree, the university’s most distinguished award.
“David Baltimore began his career at
this institution and rose rapidly to become the most influential
biologist of his generation,” said President Paul Nurse at
the June 8 Convocation ceremony. In fact, Baltimore completed his
Ph.D. in “a blazing 18 months” and became a Nobel
laureate at the age of 37.
In addition to sharing that honor, Nurse and
Baltimore share a job description. Baltimore, who is currently
president of the California Institute of Technology, was president
of Rockefeller University from 1990 to 1991.
“David has brought this university great
honor throughout his remarkable career, as researcher, educator,
leader in science policy and master builder of scientific
institutions,” Nurse said.
Before speaking on “The Politics of
Science,” Baltimore told the Convocation audience that
he applauded the freedom that Rockefeller provides “for a young
person to follow his or her own nose.”
“Science is an individual enterprise.
It’s an enterprise that’s very much about people
finding their passions, and Rockefeller is one of the rare places
where you can do that,” Baltimore said.
Baltimore’s passion was in molecular
biology. After graduating from Rockefeller, Baltimore generated
research findings that “overturned a central assumption about
how nature operates,” explained Nurse. At the age of 37,
Baltimore shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in medicine for revealing
that certain RNA viruses contain a previously unknown enzyme that
enables these retroviruses to transcribe genetic information from
RNA into DNA.
In the 1970s, the research of Baltimore and a
few other leaders in molecular biology launched the biotechnical
revolution. In response to the scientific community’s —
and public’s — concerns about the safety of
biotechnology, Baltimore helped to organize the now famous Asilomar
Conference that in 1975 recommended the first ethical and safety
standards for the use of recombinant DNA technology.
In addition to being an active citizen of
science, Baltimore has proven to be a superb administrator. He was
instrumental in establishing the Whitehead Institute at MIT in 1982
and served as its first director. “Just as he had expanded
his own laboratory to integrate studies in virology, immunology and
molecular biology, David designed the Whitehead Institute as a new
kind of research environment that would build bridges across
disciplinary boundaries,” said Nurse.
Subsequently, as president of Rockefeller
University, Baltimore drew on his experiences as a student, as a
young researcher and as an institutional leader. “He
introduced many ideas here that took hold and prospered,”
said Nurse. “In particular, his emphasis on nurturing the
careers of junior faculty members helped to build the vital
Rockefeller University of today.”
Baltimore’s Convocation speech discussed
three ways in which politics and science are tightly interwoven:
the position of science in federal government’s deliberations
and policies; the need for trained personnel to maintain
America’s strength as a scientific powerhouse; and
structuring science around more focused questions in order to apply
advances in basic knowledge to deal with disease.
June 25, 2004
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