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This is Douglas Prasher
He was a van driver at a car dealership in Boston
But as a young man, he did a PhD in biochemistry at Ohio State, then was a researcher at University of Georgia and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, studying jellyfish
He was a van driver at a car dealership in Boston
But as a young man, he did a PhD in biochemistry at Ohio State, then was a researcher at University of Georgia and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, studying jellyfish
In the 1980s, he was one of the first to study Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), which makes jellyfish light up at night
While he didn't discover GFP, he was the first to understand its genetics and be able to produce it in the lab
While he didn't discover GFP, he was the first to understand its genetics and be able to produce it in the lab
Today, GFP is used EVERYWHERE in genetics research. You can label genes in living organisms with GFP (there are many different ways), and then literally see what they do in a microscope
There is a whole industry built around JUST tagging genes with GFP for research
There is a whole industry built around JUST tagging genes with GFP for research
Prasher published his work on GFP in the journal Gene and sent data to established scientists
But he lost his grant funding and his job in 1992, and ended up as a van driver
The other scientists continued to work on it and won a Nobel Prize in 2008
But he lost his grant funding and his job in 1992, and ended up as a van driver
The other scientists continued to work on it and won a Nobel Prize in 2008
(After Prasher got some publicity in 2008, he was able to get another job in science)
Think about how many people did critical work, far ahead of their time, and got no credit at all
Think about who's doing the hard work around the edges today that will pay off in 30 years
Think about how many people did critical work, far ahead of their time, and got no credit at all
Think about who's doing the hard work around the edges today that will pay off in 30 years
Also... don't judge people's contributions by what they look like, or what their job is, or how much money they make
Just for fun, here's a picture of COVID entering a cell from a recent study, made using GFP -- the same protein he studied in jellyfish 30 years ago
I learned about this whole story from this amazing article in Nautilus, which goes a lot deeper into the problems with assigning credit in scientific achievements http://nautil.us/issue/66/clockwork/the-problem-with-scientific-credit
RANDOM BONUS FACT
All these pictures of GFP were taken with confocal microscopes, which were invented in the 60s by *MARVIN MINSKY*
The same guy who invented neural networks, popularized "AI" and inspired HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, among other things
Just a weird combo
All these pictures of GFP were taken with confocal microscopes, which were invented in the 60s by *MARVIN MINSKY*
The same guy who invented neural networks, popularized "AI" and inspired HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, among other things
Just a weird combo
