Harold F. Blum
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Harold Francis Blum (1899 - 1980) was a
physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...
who explored the interaction of
light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...
and chemicals on
cells Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...
, especially
sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when t ...
-induced skin cancer.


Early life and education

Harold Blum was born on February 12, 1899, in
Escondido, California Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census. Et ...
. For a year during the First World War, he served with the American Expeditionary Forces Signal Corps in France. Blum graduated in 1922 from the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, with an A.B. in
zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
with honors. He attended
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 ...
from 1923 to 1924, then returned to Berkeley for a Ph.D. in
physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
and graduated in 1927. During his PhD studies Blum worked for the San Francisco Bay Marine Piling Committee. Blum completed postdoctoral studies at the Laboratoire Maritime de Concarneau in France and the
University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...
in Belgium in 1933.


Career

Harold Blum was an assistant professor of
animal biology ''Animal Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of zoology. It is the official journal of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Dierkundige Vereniging (Royal Dutch Zoological Society) and published on behalf of the society by Brill Pub ...
at the
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
, then an instructor of physiology at Harvard Medical School. He became an assistant professor, then associate professor, of physiology at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1938, Blum was a founding member of the
National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
. Blum's 1940 book ''Photodynamic Action and Diseases Due to Light'', written during the first of his three Guggenheim Fellowships (awarded in
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
,
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...
, and
1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...
), was a classic text used in medical schools for many years. The book earned the Medal of the University of Liège. From 1943-1946 during the Second World War, he was a principal biophysicist of the Naval Medical Research Institute. In 1947 Blum became visiting professor at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, where he spent 20 years. In 1951 Blum published ''Time's Arrow and Evolution'', which "explores the relationship between
time's arrow Time's Arrow may refer to: * "Time's Arrow" (short story), a 1950 short story by Arthur C. Clarke * ''Time's Arrow'' (novel), a 1991 novel by Martin Amis * "Time's Arrow" (''Star Trek: The Next Generation''), a 1992 two-part episode of ''Star Trek: ...
(the second law of thermodynamics) and organic evolution." This influential text studies "irreversibility and direction in evolution and order, negentropy, and evolution." Blum argues that evolution followed specific patterns predetermined by the inorganic nature of the earth and its
thermodynamic Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of ther ...
processes. Scholar
Robert Scholes Robert E. Scholes (1929 – December 9, 2016) was an American literary critic and theorist. He is known for his ideas on fabulation and metafiction. Education and career Robert Scholes was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1929. After taking his ...
, writing about influences on
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
, calls the work a "milestone in science writing" that is "one of the finest pieces of science writing ever done." Blum retired from Princeton University and the
US Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant S ...
in 1967. After retirement, he was a professor, then professor emeritus, of biology at State University of New York at Albany. From 1973 until his death in 1980, Harold Blum was visiting professor of photobiology at the Center for Photobiology, Skin and Cancer Hospital of the
Temple University School of Medicine The Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM), located on the Health Science Campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, is one of 7 schools of medicine in Pennsylvania conferring the M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree. It also ...
. Harold Blum died in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, on September 29, 1980.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Harold Francis American physiologists UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of Oregon faculty Harvard Medical School faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty Princeton University faculty Temple University faculty University at Albany, SUNY faculty 1899 births 1980 deaths People from Escondido, California United States Army personnel of World War I American evolutionary biologists Harvard Medical School alumni