|
|
Living History of Physiology
 F. Eugene Yates
My
54 Years as a Physiologist
Having enjoyed autobiographical reports from the many
very durable scientists you have been publishing in The Physiologist,
I am delighted to get my turn, after I celebrated my 80th
birthday last week. Your invitation and questions naturally evoked memories
and reflections on the shape of my whole career, so I begin with a sketch of
its six epochs, before presuming to offer fragments of ( as you put it)
“wisdom to pass on to (my) younger colleagues”. I composed this reply, in
outline, as I was skiing on a blue sky day, in good snow, at Park City
Mountain Resort in Utah. As a result, my endorphins are high as I write.
While I was overseas serving as a Navy doctor during
the Korean War, I had much time to think about the next step of my career
when I got out of the service. I knew I wanted more scientific education, so
I applied (by brief telegrams!) to Gene Landis, head of the Harvard
Physiology Department, and to Arnold Rich in Pathology at Hopkins, seeking a
post-doctoral fellowship. After a few weeks I received a telegram from
Harvard accepting me, with details to follow in a letter. I accepted via
return telegram immediately. (The very next day I received an acceptance
from Hopkins, and had these responses reached me in reverse order I would
have had a very different professional life!)
MORE>>>>
|
|
