Don Wayne Fawcett (March 14, 1917 - May 7, 2009) was a pioneer of electron microscopy and one of its greatest practitioners for studying the organization of cells and tissues. His greatest achievement was his description of the structure of

spermatozoa A spermatozoon (; also spelled spermatozoön; ; ) is a motile sperm cell, or moving form of the haploid cell that is the male gamete. A spermatozoon joins an ovum to form a zygote. (A zygote is a single cell, with a complete set of chromos ...

and the male reproductive system.

Education

Don Fawcett was born in 1917 on a farm in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, where his father and grandfather had raised

purebred Purebreds are " cultivated varieties" of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be "pedigreed". Purebreds breed true-to-type which means the ...

sheep and cattle until his father's poor health forced the family to leave the farm and move to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, where Fawcett's father managed a successful wool business. Fawcett attended high school at the Boston Latin School. Upon graduation, he matriculated at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1934, followed by

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in 1938, where he connected with

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

professor George B. Wislocki. "I stole as much time as I could from my course work to do independent research on projects that included studies on the

vascular The blood vessels are the components of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the human body. These vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to the tissues of the body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide away f ...

bundles of

aquatic mammal Aquatic and semiaquatic mammals are a diverse group of mammals that dwell partly or entirely in bodies of water. They include the various marine mammals who dwell in oceans, as well as various freshwater species, such as the European otter. The ...

s, and the amedullary bones of the

Florida manatee The West Indian manatee (''Trichechus manatus''), also known as the North American manatee, is a large, aquatic mammal native to warm coastal areas of the Caribbean, from the eastern US to northern Brazil. Living alone or in herds, it feeds on un ...

", he recalled. While in college, Fawcett illustrated a book on athletic bandaging that had been written by the football team's physician. This may have been his only contribution as an illustrator; his later and more widely popular books were illustrated by Sylvia Collard Keen. In the summers, Fawcett worked on Bailey Island off the coast of Maine, where he embalmed and prepared small sharks for sale to colleges for comparative anatomy courses. This early interest in anatomy served him well when he trained in surgery at Harvard. Fawcett's predominant memory of his clinical training was being on duty in the emergency ward the night of the infamous Cocoanut Grove Nightclub disaster of 1942, which claimed 492 lives in one of the deadliest fires in American history. "We had been having a quiet evening when, without advance notice, we received 115 seriously burned patients within an hour and a half. Mobilizing all of the off-duty staff that I could reach, I continued on duty for 30 hours doing all I could to relieve the pain and dress the burns of the victims." He received his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

in 1942. Fawcett served as a

battalion surgeon {{no footnotes, date=February 2013 In the United States Army and Marine Corps, a battalion aid station is a medical section within a battalion's support company. As such, it is the forwardmost medically staffed treatment location. During peacet ...

and captain in the

European Theater of World War II The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

, but, before shipping out, he married Dorothy Secrest Fawcett, his wife for 68 years, who survived him. After the war, Fawcett chose for a career in research instead of surgery. He returned to Harvard, where he served as an instructor.

Scientific career

Fawcett perfected the art and technology of microscopy in the early days of cell biology, which emerged as a modern field after the electron microscope became more widely available in the 1940s. He would routinely cut thin sections at home, before venturing in the early morning hours to his lab at Harvard, where he viewed them with the microscope that would do so much to reveal the secrets of form and function. He kept a microtome at home, and it was rumored that he also had a private collection of diamond knives to help achieve his unparalleled results. Tom Pollard, a student at Harvard during Fawcett's chairmanship, recalls how Fawcett used his skills in the darkroom to produce spectacular prints of electron

micrograph A micrograph or photomicrograph is a photograph or digital image taken through a microscope or similar device to show a magnified image of an object. This is opposed to a macrograph or photomacrograph, an image which is also taken on a m ...

s to illustrate the key features of each image. He may have been most renowned as the first person to describe and depict in detail human

, and he published extensively on the anatomy of male reproductive cellular anatomy. He sought out

Keith Porter Keith Roberts Porter (June 11, 1912 – May 2, 1997) was a Canadian- American cell biologist. He created pioneering biology techniques and research using electron microscopy of cells. Porter also contributed to the development of other experime ...

, another pioneering electron microscopist, at the Rockefeller Institute. There, with Porter and George E. Palade, Fawcett recalled in 2000 that he, working with his illustrious colleagues, "undertook a project on the fine structure of

ciliated The cilium, plural cilia (), is a membrane-bound organelle found on most types of eukaryotic cell, and certain microorganisms known as ciliates. Cilia are absent in bacteria and archaea. The cilium has the shape of a slender threadlike project ...

epithelium that revealed the 9+2 pattern of microtubules in the cilia for the first time in a

metazoan Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

." Fawcett described the early days of electron microscopy as: "For morphologists the decade from 1950 to 1960 held the same anticipation and excitement that attends the opening of a new continent for exploration. The electron microscope revealed marvelous order and functional design in the organization of every tissue and organ that was examined and added significantly to our understanding of our own structure (...)". Fawcett published a collection of his fine-structure micrographs in ''The Cell'', a classic cell biology text that features all the major cell structures,Fawcett D. W (1981
''The cell''
. 2nd Sub edition. Philadelphia: W B Saunders Co. In 1955 Fawcett assumed the position of chair of the Department of Anatomy at

Cornell Medical School The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York (state), New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is af ...

in New York City and established an electron microscope laboratory. He had become what today might be characterized as the quintessential descriptive scientist; later generations of cell biologists and biochemists would build on his seminal work. After four years at Cornell, Fawcett again returned to Harvard as Hersey Professor of Anatomy and Chairman of the Department. The endowment for his chairmanship had been established by Ezekiel Hersey in 1770 with a gift of 1,000 pounds, and, Fawcett recalled, "My salary reflected the size of that endowment." Fawcett, together with

, Montrose Moses, Morgan Harris, Hans Ris,

Hewson Swift Hewson is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ali Hewson (born 1961), activist and wife of U2's Bono * Allan Hewson (born 1954), former New Zealand Rugby union All Black * Arthur Hewson (1914–1999), Australian politician * As ...

, and J. Herbert Taylor, founded the

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960.National Academy of Sciences. In 1976 Fawcett resigned the chairmanship and became Senior Associate Dean for Preclinical Science, a position for which, by his own description, he was ill-suited. After spending some time annually in Africa as examiner in the School of Veterinary Medicine of the

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a collegiate research university based in Nairobi. It is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dates back to 1956, it did not become an independent univer ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, where he indulged his profound love of and talent for animal and nature photography, Fawcett left Boston in 1985 to take the position of senior research scientist and director of electron microscopy at the

International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases The International Livestock Research Institute or ILRI is an international agricultural research institute within the CGIAR – formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research. It was established in 1994 by merger of th ...

in Nairobi. There, he worked in parasitology in a well-equipped laboratory financed by the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

and other international agencies. Its mission was to find methods of controlling two

parasitic disease A parasitic disease, also known as parasitosis, is an infectious disease caused by parasites. Parasites are organisms which derive sustenance from its host while causing it harm. The study of parasites and parasitic diseases is known as parasitolo ...

s, theileriosis (also known as East Coast Fever) and

trypanosomiasis Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus ''Trypanosoma''. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other diseas ...

, which together killed hundreds of thousands of cattle annually in East and Central Africa. Fawcett relished the freedom from administrative duties that he enjoyed there. With just a small German microscope and all the accessories he needed, Fawcett could devote all his energy to studying what he considered an interesting new field. He found that he was able to "add significantly to what was then known about the parasites and their

arachnid Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegar ...

and

dipteran Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

s." In 1981, Fawcett became a founding member of the

World Cultural Council The World Cultural Council is an international organization whose goals are to promote cultural values, goodwill and philanthropy among individuals. The organization founded in 1981 and based in Mexico, has held a yearly award ceremony since 198 ...

Retirement

When Fawcett retired from his work in Africa, he and Dorothy established a new home in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

in 1988, because the rural environment suited them and they wanted to be close to family. In 1988, the Fawcett Lecture was established at

in Fawcett's honor. His greatest professional legacy, according to Harvard colleague Dan Goodenough, may have been his talent for identifying and recruiting young talent, including Susumu Ito, Betty Hay (who succeeded him as Chair of Anatomy at Harvard and later as President of the ASCB), and Jean-Paul Revel, also to become an ASCB president. Fawcett recruited dozens of postdoctoral fellows, many of whom also went on to become leaders of cell biology. He "guided" his protégés by procuring for them modest start-up funds, finding them a lab or bench, and wishing them well. They were left completely free to pursue their own research questions alone or through other relationships they may have developed. Tom Pollard, the chair of Cell Biology and Anatomy at Johns Hopkins for many years and now at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, says that Fawcett "changed my life." Pollard describes how, after accepting a neurology residency at

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

, Fawcett, who had attended a talk that Pollard had given as a medical student, called him and asked him to consider basic science instead. Pollard rerouted back to Harvard, where Fawcett gave him a princely start-up fund of US$500 and left him to follow his own curiosity. Despite his leadership roles, Fawcett was uncommonly solitary in his work and private in his personal life. Goodenough describes him as "fair, generous, and austere," recounting how Fawcett encouraged his early interest in black-and-white photography at a time when Goodenough was a graduate student and couldn't even dream of purchasing good equipment. Fawcett unhesitatingly lent him his fine cameras, lenses, and darkroom equipment. Yet, Fawcett never failed to greet a young faculty member to Harvard with the admonition that they had not a prayer of being asked to stay on the senior faculty. Similarly, in later years, though Fawcett was clearly devoted to his and Dorothy's four children (Robert, Mary, Dona, and Joseph) his colleagues cannot recall ever meeting them. A contributing factor may have been that Fawcett suffered profoundly from migraine headaches, which he did not reveal to his colleagues and for which he delayed seeking treatment for many decades—a choice that may have caused him to withdraw for hours of silent endurance—until he finally agreed to seek medical attention. Fawcett died at his home in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County. It is located along the Clark Fork ...

on May 7, 2009 at the age of 92.

Bibliography

Fawcett is the author of ''The Cell'', a classic cell biology text, and was author of several editions of Bloom and Fawcett: ''A Textbook of Histology, the definitive

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vi ...

'' textbook to generations of students.Fawcett D. W (1997) ''Bloom and Fawcett: a textbook of histology.'' 12th Sub edition. London: A Hodder Arnold Publication. He published over 200 papers on the

ultrastructure Ultrastructure (or ultra-structure) is the architecture of cells and biomaterials that is visible at higher magnifications than found on a standard optical light microscope. This traditionally meant the resolution and magnification range of a co ...

of cells and organelles.

References

*Marincola, E. (2009)
Don Fawcett (1917–2009): Unlocking Nature's Closely Guarded Secrets
PLoS Biol 7(8): e1000183. *Raviola, E. e.a. (2009) ASCB Newsletter (2009)
In Memoriam: Don Wayne Fawcett, 1917–2009.
ASCB Newsletter. Volume 32, number 7. Accessed 22 June 2010. ---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Fawcett, Don Wayne 1917 births 2009 deaths United States Army Medical Corps officers Founding members of the World Cultural Council Harvard Medical School alumni Presidents of the International Federation of Societies for Microscopy American biologists Harvard College alumni Boston Latin School alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century biologists