Van Rensselaer Potter II (August 27, 1911 – September 6, 2001) was an Americanbiochemist, oncologist, and bioethicist. Born in northeast
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
, Potter was professor of
oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''à ...
at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
for more than five decades.
Potter is known for coining the widely used term ''
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, m ...
'' in 1970, however, German theologian Fritz Jahr had previously coined the term in the 1920s. Peter Whitehouse describes Potter's formulation of bioethics as a "wise integration of biology and values", which arose from his work as a cancer researcher and from the influence of faculty member Aldo Leopold at the University of Wisconsin.
Bioethics is linked to
environmental ethics
In environmental philosophy, environmental ethics is an established field of practical philosophy "which reconstructs the essential types of argumentation that can be made for protecting natural entities and the sustainable use of natural resourc ...
and is separate from
biomedical ethics
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, me ...
. Because of this confusion (and appropriation of the term in medicine), Potter chose to use the term ''
global bioethics
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
Bristol-Myers Squibb Awards
Between 1977 and 2006, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation presented annual awards of US$50,000 to scientists for distinguished achievements in fields such as cancer, infectious disease, neuroscience, nutrition, and cardiovascular disease. The rec ...
(1981)
*
Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry
The Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, formerly known as the Paul-Lewis Award in Enzyme Chemistry was established in 1945. Consisting of a gold medal and honorarium, its purpose is to stimulate fundamental research in enzyme chemistry by scientists ...
(1947)
*
List of Ten Outstanding Young Americans
The Ten Outstanding Young Americans ( TOYA) program exists to recognize and honor ten Americans each year who exemplify the best attributes of the nation's young people, aged 18 through 40. The TOYA program is sponsored by the United States Junior ...
(1945)
Publications
Popular
* ''Bioethics: Bridge to the Future'' (Prentice-Hall, 1971)
* ''Global Bioethics: Building on the Leopold Legacy'' (Michigan State Univ Pr 1988)
See also
*
Geotherapy Geotherapy is the metaphor that earth's Biophysical environmental problems, like global warming, can be soundly diagnosed and corrected, in much the same way that a medical doctor diagnoses and heals a human body by restoring imbalances in a patient ...