Russell F. Doolittle (January 10, 1931 – October 11, 2019) was an American biochemist who taught at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

(UCSD). Described as a "world-renowned evolutionary biologist", Doolittle's research primarily focused on the structure and evolution of proteins. Highlights of Doolittle's decades of research include his role in co-developing the hydropathy index and determining the structure of

fibrinogen Fibrinogen (factor I) is a glycoprotein complex, produced in the liver, that circulates in the blood of all vertebrates. During tissue and vascular injury, it is converted enzymatically by thrombin to fibrin and then to a fibrin-based blood cl ...

Early life and education

Doolittle was born on January 10, 1931, in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

. Doolittle earned a B.A. in biology from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

in 1952, and an M.A. in education from Trinity College in 1957. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1962 with research in

blood clotting Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a blood clot. It potentially results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The mechanis ...

. Doolittle later conducted

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

in Sweden funded by the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NIH).

Career

Doolittle notably co-developed the hydropathy index, and was instrumental in determining the structure of

. Dootlittle was a member of the National Academy of Sciences from 1984, was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the a ...

and was a co-recipient of the Paul Ehrlich Prize. In 1985, Doolittle was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1985. In 1992, he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. In addition, Doolittle calculated the date of the divergence of all life forms from a

common ancestor Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal comm ...

. In 2006, Doolittle was awarded the John J. Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences for his professional achievements.

Personal views

Doolittle was a critic of creationism and

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

(ID), and accused

Michael Behe Michael Joseph Behe ( ; born January 18, 1952) is an American biochemist and author, widely known as an advocate of the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design (ID). He serves as professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Pennsy ...

, an ID proponent, of misquoting his work. In 1981, Doolittle debated ID proponent

Duane Gish Duane Tolbert Gish (February 17, 1921 – March 5, 2013) was an American biochemist and a prominent member of the creationist movement. A young Earth creationist, Gish was a former vice-president of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR ...

on live television. In 2016, three years before is death, Doolittle signed onto an open letter urging world leaders to take the threat of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

seriously.

Death and legacy

Doolittle died in

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

on October 11, 2019, at the age of 88. Molecular biologist Kenneth R. Miller praised Doolittle's contributions to science, stating he regards Doolittle "as the very epitome of a humane life in science".

Books

*Russell F. Doolittle
''Of Urfs and Orfs: A Primer on how to Analyze Derived Amino Acid Sequences''
(University Science Books, December 1986) *Russell F. Doolittle, John N. Abelson, and Melvin I. Simon, ''Computer Methods for Macromolecular Sequence Analysis (Methods in Enzymology)'' (Academic Press, 1996) *Russell F. Doolittle, ''The Evolution of Vertebrate Blood Clotting'' (University Science Books, August 2012) *John N. Abelson, Melvin I. Simon, and Russell F. Doolittle, ''Molecular Evolution: Computer Analysis of Protein and Nucleic Acid Sequences, Volume 183: Volume 183: Molecular Evolution (Methods in Enzymology)'' (Academic Press, Feb 28, 1990) *Mosesson, Michael W. and Doolittle, Russell F. ''Molecular biology of fibrinogen and fibrin (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences)'' (New York Academy of Sciences, 1983)

References

External links

MSS 77

UC San Diego Library.

at

40/40 Vision: Russell Doolittle - The Revolution of Biology
from UC Television (UCTV) (Video of lecture tracing DNA from our closest to most distant ancestors)
Profiles in Discovery
from UC Television (UCTV) (Video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Doolittle, Russell 1931 births 2019 deaths 21st-century American biologists Evolutionary biologists University of California, San Diego faculty Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Wesleyan University alumni Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Critics of creationism People from New Haven, Connecticut Members of the American Philosophical Society