Scott Frederick Gilbert (born 1949) is an American evolutionary developmental biologist and historian of biology. Scott Gilbert is the Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology (''emeritus'') at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

and a Finland Distinguished Professor (''emeritus'') at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

Education

He obtained his B.A. in both biology and religion from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

(1971). In 1976, he received his MA (history of science, under the aegis of

Donna Haraway Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. Sh ...

) and his PhD (biology, in the laboratory of

Barbara Migeon Barbara Ruben Migeon (born July 31, 1931) is a professor at the Johns Hopkins University Institute of Genetic Medicine. She founded the Johns Hopkins program in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology. Migeon is the author of ''Females are Mosaics: ...

) from the

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. His postdoctoral work at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

, pursued research on ribosome synthesis in the laboratory of

Masayasu Nomura was a Japanese molecular biologist. Nomura was born in April 1927, a native of Hyōgo Prefecture, and completed a bachelor's degree and doctorate at the University of Tokyo. Nomura began work in 1957 as a postdoctoral researcher in the United S ...

(1976–1978) and investigated developmental immunology in the laboratory of Robert Auerbach (1978–1980).

Academic career

Gilbert is the author of the textbook ''Developmental Biology'' (first edition, 1985, and now in its 12th edition, 2019) and has also co-authored (with

David Epel David Epel is a researcher at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California, and a Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. Epel earned his Ph.D. at University of California Berkeley under Daniel Mazia. He a ...

) the textbook ''Ecological Developmental Biology'' (2009, 2015). He has been credited with helping initiate

evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary developmental biology (informally, evo-devo) is a field of biological research that compares the developmental processes of different organisms to infer how developmental processes evolved. The field grew from 19th-century beginni ...

and ecological developmental biology as new biological disciplines. Gilbert's early biological research includes documenting the first

pyrimidine Pyrimidine (; ) is an aromatic, heterocyclic, organic compound similar to pyridine (). One of the three diazines (six-membered heterocyclics with two nitrogen atoms in the ring), it has nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 in the ring. The other ...

-initiated RNA transcripts, elucidating the mechanisms by which antibodies inactivate

poliovirus A poliovirus, the causative agent of polio (also known as poliomyelitis), is a serotype of the species ''Enterovirus C'', in the family of ''Picornaviridae''. There are three poliovirus serotypes: types 1, 2, and 3. Poliovirus is composed of an ...

, and studying the roles of paracrine factors in kidney and lung branching. After co-authoring an early paper in evolutionary developmental biology, he inaugurated a project on the development of turtle shells. With collaborator Judith Cebra-Thomas, Gilbert elucidated the roles of several paracrine factors involved in

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

formation and made the unexpected conclusion that the plastron was derived from

trunk neural crest The trunk neural crest or truncal neural crest is one of the regions of neural crest in the embryo. The trunk neural crest lies between the vagal and sacral neural crest and gives rise to two groups of cells. One group migrates dorsolateral and po ...

cells. The latter studies led to the hypothesis that the turtle evolved by respecifying its cell types. His most recent studies concern the development of the

holobiont A holobiont is an assemblage of a host and the many other species living in or around it, which together form a discrete ecological unit through symbiosis, though there is controversy over this discreteness. The components of a holobiont are in ...

and the importance of

plasticity Plasticity may refer to: Science * Plasticity (physics), in engineering and physics, the propensity of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation under load * Neuroplasticity, in neuroscience, how entire brain structures, and the brain it ...

and symbiotic microbes during normal animal development. He has argued that the holobiont is an important unit of

evolutionary selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable Phenotypic trait, traits characteristic of a populati ...

. Gilbert's research in the history and philosophy of biology concerns the interactions of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

and

embryology Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

; feminist critiques of biology;

Antireductionism Antireductionism is the position in science and metaphysics that stands in contrast to reductionism (anti-holism) by advocating that not all properties of a system can be explained in terms of its constituent parts and their interactions. General ...

; the formation of biological disciplines; and

Bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, med ...

. Some of these studies have documented the origins of the gene theory from embryological controversies, the formation of

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

and

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

as separate disciplines, the importance of feminist critique as a normative control in cell and developmental biology, and the importance of the environment in

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...

production. His work in the interactions of biology and religion have included extensive analysis of wonder, as well as studies of when different groups of biologists claim that individual human life begins. He has identified (with

Ziony Zevit Ziony Zevit (born February 13, 1942) is an American scholar of biblical literature and Northwest Semitic languages, and a professor at the American Jewish University. Biography Zevit received his B.A. degree from University of Southern CA in 1 ...

) the bone from which Eve was generated, analyzed embryonic imagery in the art of

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's prim ...

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

, and

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...

, and has provided one of the first analyses of nerd humor. His biology textbooks have been experiments in the interactions between biology and its social critiques.

Personal life

Scott F. Gilbert is the son of Marvin (Bud) and Elaine Caplan Gilbert. He was raised in

East Rockaway, New York East Rockaway is a village in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 9,818 at the 2010 census. The Incorporated Village of East Rockaway is at the edge of Rockaway Peninsula Proper in t ...

, . He is married to Anne Raunio (m.1971), and has three children and two grandchildren. In 2015, Gilbert became emeritus professor at both Swarthmore College and the University of Helsinki, and in 2016 he moved with Anne to Portland, Oregon, where he is on the Asian Arts Council of the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum becam ...

Honors

Honorary doctorates

University of Helsinki (Finland, 2000), University of Tartu, (Estonia, 2011)

Awards and honors

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

(1970);

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

(1980); Medal of François I (Collège de France, 1996); Fellow, AAAS (1998); John Simon Guggenheim Fellow (1999); Honorary member, St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists, St. Petersburg, Russia (2001); Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize (Society for Developmental Biology, 2002); Alexander Kowalevsky Medal (2004); Biosemiotics Achievement Award (2015); Lecture in developmental biology presented to the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

(2016)Session 4- Bridging Buddhism and Science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DPdHJkPLcM

Selected publications

For full publications list, se
Swarthmore College Works

Articles

A select number of his works are freel
available online

Books

*Gilbert, Scott F. (1st ed. 1985; 12th ed. 2019). ''Developmental Biology''. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates. . * * * * * *Gilbert, S. F. and Pinto-Correia, C. (2017). ''Fear, Wonder, and Science in the New Age of Reproductive Biotechnology''. Columbia University Press, NY.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Scott Frederic 1949 births Developmental biologists Living people 21st-century American biologists Wesleyan University alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Swarthmore College faculty Academic staff of the University of Helsinki Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science American textbook writers Symbiogenesis researchers