The Legacy of Daniel Koshland

Daniel E Koshland Jr died on July 23 of a massive cerebral haemorrhage he was 87.

Professor Koshland had an impact on US and international science far beyond his personal research.

Joseph Goldstein, the 1985 Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology said: "By F. Scott Fitzgerald's dictum, 'There are no second acts in American lives,' Dan accomplished the impossible in his quest for elevating science to its highest level; he performed three acts in one lifetime, all of them class acts: the visionary biochemist, the tireless institution-builder, and the eloquent public communicator. It's indeed a sad day that the curtain has fallen."

While he made major contributions to protein chemistry and enzymology, his greater legacy will be that of the "institution-builder, and the eloquent public communicator". As such he ought to be a role model for those men and women of science who are in positions to influence the advancement of science on a national level. So far his like has not emerged in Australia, and truth be told the nation sorely needs one or more.

Professor Koshland considered "one of the high points of my life" his all-encompassing drive in the 1980s to reorganise biological sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. Eleven small departments comprising 200 faculty, were recast into three reflecting current research emphases such as recombinant DNA with a focus on gene and protein interactions. Mindful of the necessity of supporting the reorganisation with sufficient resources, it was accompanied by a fund-raising campaign that funded the construction and outfitting of two new buildings and the renovation of a third. As a result UC Berkeley was placed as Professor Koshland subsequently wrote "in a leadership role in the biological sciences". That in turn spurred many other US universities to reorganize biology.

And Robert Sanders writing in the UC Berkeley News says that when in his eighties, and following his retirement from the editorship of Science "Koshland provided leadership for the campus's $400 million Health Sciences Initiative and championed the need for renewed campus infrastructure to provide faculty and students with the physical environment and tools they need to explore the frontiers of modern science. Because of his vision, Stanley Hall, a new laboratory facility for bioscience teaching and research, will open this fall."

While in the midst of recasting biological science at Berkeley, Professor Koshland was offered the editor-in-chief's position at the scientific weekly journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science which, according to Joseph Goldstein was "a good, but stodgy, journal."

During his decade's stewardship Daniel Koshland transformed Science into the primary voice of science in the United States -- which it continued to be when Floyd Bloom and then Donald Kennedy became EiCs.

As a result, Science is a significant influence on public policy.

While editor, Professor Koshland contributed on average some twenty editorials per year, and beginning in 1989, he wrote nearly thirty which involved the hyper-egotistical Dr Noitall as his foil.

One written for the March 23, 1990 issue of Science is a prime example. -- A condensation:

Two Plus Two Equals Five

Science. Dr. Noitall, you are the world's greatest authority on public relations, the man who could get Brezhnev elected in Orange County, the man who could sell crepes suzette as the breakfast of champions.

 

Dr. Noitall. A vast understatement of my true worth.

 

Science. We have come to ask you why scientists seem to have such a poor image.

 

Dr. Noitall. How can you possibly ask such a simple-minded question? You are the people who have brought us nuclear war, global warming, and acid rain. You enjoy dissecting frogs, and you keep mice and rats in little cages instead of killing them with warfarin, as any decent soft-hearted farmer does.

 

Science. But we're not in favor of nuclear war.

 

Dr. Noitall. You discovered the atom. You had your chance to stick with phlogiston, and you didn't do it.

 

Science. We are not in favor of global warming. In fact, we're the ones who alerted the public to this danger.

 

Dr. Noitall. That shows the naivete of scientists. The Bible records the execution of messengers who brought bad news.

Science. But it is our job to tell people when 2 + 2 = 4.

 

Dr. Noitall. That's exactly where your views are wrong. A recent poll shows that 50% of the people think 2 + 2 = 5, and almost every network agrees with them. Those people have rights... Simply imposing 2 + 2 = 4 on them is not democracy.

     The Establishment is lined up monolithically on the side of 2 + 2 = 4. A dissident scientist representing the 2 + 2 = 5 school cannot get his articles published in Establishment joumals... [but] prominent political groups have already supported enactment of legislation, even if it is scientifically inaccurate, as long as the public wants it.

 

Science. Then how can we go about changing public opinion?

 

Dr. Noitall. Pick real successes, such as actors, actresses, and rock singers, and let them present your side of the story. Making large amounts of money and being handsome is evidence of success in modern society.

Science. But even if we pick attractive spokespersons, how can we convince them of the truth?

 

Dr. Noitall. That is another misconception that you are going to have to get rid of... A stubbon insistence on the facts instead of the people's perception of the facts makes you look heartless and disdainful. You are going to have to come out as more reasonable and accommodating...

 

Science. So how do we handle the 2 + 2 = 4 problem?

 

Dr. Noitall. I'd suggest you start by conceding that 2 + 2 = 4½

Alex Reisner

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