Augustine Pamplany CST
“The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus.” As humanity now fights with Covid 19, this observation of Joshua Lederberg (1925-2008) becomes so germane as a farsighted prediction. Lederberg was an American molecular biologist who made immense contributions to the field of microbial genetics, space programme, and artificial intelligence. Born in 1925, he studied at Yale University and taught at the University of Wisconsin and Stanford Medical School. He was president of the Rockefeller University from 1978 to 1990.
At the age of 33, he received Nobel Prize in Physiology for his discovery regarding bacteria that they can mate and transfer genes. His discovery changed the previous view that bacteria only reproduce asexually. He showed that bacterial genetic systems share similarities with the multicellular organisms. His researches and findings along with others paved the way to using bacteria as an important tool in genetic research. He coined the term exobiology referring to search for life outside earth. In this regard, he was consultant for NASA.
He has expressed his religious blend of mind in several of his speeches. Like Johannes Kepler who thought of himself as a priest of the Book of Nature, Lederberg regarded his scientific research as a special calling. “I certainly saw science as a kind of calling, and one with as much legitimacy as a religious calling.” Contrary to the popular propagation that religious faith hinders scientific research, he said, “I get curious about new things. My real strength is going into a field that has not been investigated before, and finding new approaches to it…. Being successful at a very young age gave me the confidence and the capability to try out other things.” Furthermore, he saw religious impulse as promoting science: “A religious impulse guides our motive in sustaining scientific inquiry.” As a person who wanted science to be used for peaceful goals, he stated that, “all of civility depends on being able to contain the rage of rage of individuals.”
Acknowledging the philosophical and discursive style of Lederberg, his friend, Stephen S. Morse, of Colombia University said, “What Josh wanted to do was to search for truth and inspire others in that search, for the benefit of humankind. He was never happier than when he was absorbing knowledge and questioning it.”
