George Beadle, an Uncommon Farmer: The Emergence of Genetics in the 20th Century - Softcover

George Beadle was a towering scientific figure whose work from the 1930s to 1960 marked the transition from classical genetics to the molecular era. Among other distinctions, he made the pivotal, Nobel Prize-winning discovery with Edward Tatum that the role of genes is to specify proteins. From 1946 to 1960 he led the Caltech Biology Division, rebuilding it to a powerhouse in molecular biology, and afterwards became a successful President of the University of Chicago. This is the first biography of a giant of genetics, written by two of the field's most distinguished contributors, Paul Berg and Maxine Singer.

Berg (a Nobel laureate biochemist at Stanford University) and Singer (a former president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington), are thoroughly acquainted with Beadle's work and its place in the history of genetics. Not only do they tell us a lot, both scientific and personal, about Beadle, but they set the stage by describing his associates and their work. The authors have done their homework, reading the old literature and conducting hours of interviews. The result is a full, accurate, authoritative, and balanced biography. And their writing is splendid as well... One of the delights of Berg and Singer's informative biography is their vivid portrayal of the real Beadle. Science The book tells us in detail about Beadle's two marriages, the salaries he earned (but not their equivalent values today), his journeys by ship and by train, and the fact that he succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. There is plenty here for everyone. Those interested in the history of genetics will want to read the whole book, but today's students would benefit from just a few chapters. Nature Berg and Singer's biography of Beadle is authoritative and complete, in that it covers in considerable detail both scientific and personal aspects of the life of this remarkable (in my view, almost uniquely appealing) biologist-administrator. Nature Genetics