Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 15:19:06 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: John V. Dennis MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All, Sue Hamilton rightly noted that James D. Watson, who combined with Francis Crick to specify the structure of DNA, was a childhood naturalist, however it is only fair to also point out that he viewed his youthful birding as a trivial and meaningless activity compared to his "important" career in biochemistry. Watson writes of his "birdwatching" in "The Double Helix" as if it were a lamentable dalliance, safely left behind with adulthood. Indeed the great natural historian Edward O. Wilson once referred to Watson as "the Caligula of Biology" for his attitude toward natural history when they both uneasily coexisted at Harvard. I doubt Watson would consider John V. Dennis' career noteworthy or important. Some people seem embarassed by their roots. I don't mean to sound too negative - I just resent Watson's attitude toward natural history, without Jim Watson and Francis Crick modern biology and medicine might have been very different. Still, I wonder if Watson would have been a biologist without an interest in living things as such. A few other Nobel laureate "birders" to add to the list - Murray Gell-Mann (of quark fame), Jimmy Carter (peace prize), and some childhood birders who never stopped "birding" Konrad Lorenz, and Niko Tinbergen. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD-DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Road Chestertown, MD 21620 phone: 410-778-9568 e-mail: rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. White (in "Stuart Little") ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================