Horace Freeland Judson

Horace Freeland Judson (born April 21, 1931) is a historian of molecular biology and the author of several books, including "The Eighth Day of Creation", a history of molecular biology, and "The Great Betrayal: Fraud in Science", an examination of the deliberate manipulation of scientific data.

"The Eighth Day of Creation" is a monumental work. Arising out of Judson's acquaintance with Max Perutz in 1968 came the idea of a book about the discovery of the structures of cellular macromolecules. Following a discussion with Jacques Monod in 1969, Judson expanded his planned book to a general history of molecular biology. The result is based on interviews of over 100 scientists, cross-checked and re-interviewed over a period of seven years. [Judson, H. F. "The Eighth Day of Creation" (1979), p. 10–11] The book was partially serialized in three issues of "The New Yorker" in November and December, 1978. Following the publication of the book, Judson deposited the tapes and transcripts of the interviews at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [ [http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/j/judson.htm Horace Freeland Judson Collection] (1968–78), American Philosophical Society, accessed 27 November, 2006 ]

Judson graduated from the University of Chicago in 1948 [ [http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/guides/glass/PartIII.htm American Philosophical Society] ] , and worked for seven years for "Time Magazine" as a European correspondent in London and Paris. He subsequently wrote for "The New Yorker", "Harper's", and "Nature" among others. Judson spent four years as a research scholar at Stanford University and then nine years on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University. He was the director of the now defunct Center for History of Recent Science and Research Professor of History at George Washington University. In 1987 Judson won a MacArthur Fellowship. [ [http://www.rockefeller.edu/lectures/judson041700.html "Talking about the Genome Project"] Centennial Lecture by H.F. Judson at Rockefeller University, April 17, 2000]

He appears in D. A. Pennebaker's documentary film about Bob Dylan "Dont Look Back"sic, in which he was subjected to what he believes to be a contrived tirade of abuse from Dylan. During Judson's interview, Dylan launched into a verbal attack on Time magazine, and Judson himself. The film's producer Pennebaker does not believe the tirade was planned, but notes that Dylan backed off, not wanting to come across as being too cruel. However, Judson believes the confrontation was contrived to make the sequence more entertaining. "That evening," says Judson, "I went to the concert. My opinion then and now was that the music was unpleasant, the lyrics inflated, and Dylan, a self-indulgent whining show off". Sounes, Howard. "Down the Highway, The Life Of Bob Dylan". Doubleday, 2001. ISBN 0-552-99929-6]

Family

Horace Freeland Judson's daughter, Dr. Olivia Judson, is an evolutionary biologist at Imperial College London and is the author of the best-selling "Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation"; his son, Dr. Nicholas Judson, was a scientist at the J. Craig Venter Institute (Rockville, MD) and left science to pursue a new career as a self-employed artist ( [http://www.nicholasjudson.com website] ).

Notes

Horace Judson also has two children from a previous marriage, Grace Judson and Thomas Judson, and is the brother of Judith Judson of Arlington, Virginia.

Books

* "Heroin Addiction: What Americans Can Learn from the English Experience" (1975). Vintage Books, ISBN 0-394-72017-2
* "The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology" (1979). Touchstone Books, ISBN 0-671-22540-5. 2nd edition: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1996 paperback: ISBN 0-87969-478-5.
*"The Search for Solutions" (1982). Holt Rinehart & Winston, ISBN 0-03-043771-7
*"Science in Crisis at the Millennium" (1999). New York Academy of Sciences, ISBN 1-57331-106-5
*"The Great Betrayal: Fraud in Science" (2004). Harcourt, ISBN 0-15-100877-9

External links

* [http://davidcrowe.ca/SciHealthEnv/2004-12-TheGreatBetrayal.html "The Great Betrayal: A Book Review"] January 24 2005
* [http://www.technologyreview.com/BioTech/17725/page1/ "The Glimmering Promise of Gene Therapy"] by Horace Freeland Judson in Technology Review, November 14, 2006