Ray Rappaport (May 21, 1922 – December 14, 2010) was an American

cell biologist Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

. He did pioneering research using physical manipulations of cells to understand the mechanisms of

cytokinesis Cytokinesis () is the part of the cell division process during which the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell divides into two daughter cells. Cytoplasmic division begins during or after the late stages of nuclear division in mitosis and mei ...

, the process by which a cell's cytoplasm is divided in two. Raymond Rappaport was born in May 1922 in North Bergen, New Jersey, to Raymond and Verna Karper Rappaport.''Bangor Daily News'', December 17, 2010,

He attended

Bethany College (West Virginia) Bethany College is a private liberal arts college in Bethany, West Virginia. Founded in 1840 by Alexander Campbell of the Restoration Movement, who gained support by the Virginia legislature, Bethany College was the first institution of higher ...

. His studies were interrupted by service during World War II in the 5th Service Command, Anti-Aircraft and then in the Army Medical Corps. He finished his undergraduate work at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and enrolled in a masters program in Zoology at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. In a soil microbiology course, he met fellow masters student Barbara Nolan, and the two were wed in 1947. He earned his master's degree in 1948, and a PhD from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1952.''Schenectady Gazette'', July 13, 1987,

Rappaport began his career as a professor at

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

in Schenectady, New York in 1952. He taught for 35 years and conducted research at the college and for most summers at

MDI Biological Laboratory The MDI Biological Laboratory (MDIBL), formerly known as Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory is an independent non-profit biomedical research institution founded in 1898 and located in Salisbury Cove, Maine, on Mount Desert Island. Its mi ...

in Salisbury Cove, Maine. Rappaport held several administrative positions at the MDI Biological Laboratory, including director (1956–1959), trustee, and president of the corporation (1979–1981).Henson J.H, Shuster C.B ''The Bulletin of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory'', volume 50, 2011,

accessed August 27, 2015 Rappaport also architecturally designed some of the buildings at the laboratory, including several cottages, laboratory buildings, and the dining hall.''Bangor Daily News'', June 23, 1983,

He and his wife retired to Maine in 1987, where he continued research year-round at MDIBL. Most of Rappaport's research made use of

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the s ...

embryonic cells to address the mechanisms of

in animal cells, experiments that focused on understanding how the cytokinetic furrow is positioned, and understanding the nature of the stimulus from the

mitotic spindle In cell biology, the spindle apparatus refers to the cytoskeletal structure of eukaryotic cells that forms during cell division to separate sister chromatids between daughter cells. It is referred to as the mitotic spindle during mitosis, a pr ...

that induced cortical furrowing.''Ray Rappaport Chronology: Twenty-Five Years of Seminal Papers on Cytokinesis in the Journal of Experimental Zoology'', by Thomas D. Pollard, J Exp Zool 301A:9-14 (2004) With few exceptions, his research was conducted alone or with his wife. Rappaport's research was marked by unusually creative and simple experimental design, often involving physical manipulation of individual cells, for which he devised a number of custom microsurgical tools. Rappaport recognized mechanistic redundancy in cytokinesis, which he characterized in an address at a 2004 conference with, "When I began working on cytokinesis, I thought I was tinkering with a beautifully made Swiss watch, but what I was really working on was an old Maine fishing boat engine: overbuilt, inefficient, never-failed and repaired by simple measures." Rappaport died December 14, 2010 in Bar Harbor, Maine at the age of 88.

Honors and awards

Rappaport was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1983. A laboratory building at MDIBL is named after him.

Honors and awards

References

Further reading