Published: Nov. 23, 2007 at
2:34 PM
ITHACA, N.Y., Nov. 23
(UPI) -- Samuel
Leonard, whose study of reproductive
hormones in animals helped lay the basis
for in vitro fertilization in women,
died in Ithaca, N.Y. He was 101.
When endocrinology was in its infancy in
the 1930s, Leonard, as a University of
Wisconsin doctoral student working with
his thesis adviser and another
researcher, determined the pituitary
gland produces two hormones with
distinct effects on the sexual organs,
The New York Times reported.
When Leonard and his collaborators
published their results in the American
Journal of Physiology, they "created a
storm that opened a series of
investigations and fruitful research,"
Robert H. Foote, a professor emeritus of
animal physiology at Cornell University,
where Leonard taught for many years,
told the Times.
In his research, Leonard worked mostly
with laboratory rats and became adept in
brain surgery, a necessity for reaching
and removing the pituitary.
Colleague Ari Van Tienhoven, a professor
emeritus of animal physiology at
Cornell, commented on Leonard's skilled
operations, saying he could "perform
surgery, smoke a cigar and remove a
rat's pituitary in a blue haze, all in
about 10 minutes."
Leonard, who died Nov. 11, is survived
by a daughter, four grandchildren and
one great-grandchild.
