Home
/
About
/
News
/
Biography of David Baltimorepublished by UC Press
Biography of David Baltimorepublished by UC Press
March 27, 2001
The University of California Press has announced the publication of a new biography of Nobel Prize-winning scientist David Baltimore. The book, titled Ahead of the Curve, is written by Shane Crotty and will be available in bookstores in late April.
Baltimore, who has been president of the California Institute of Technology since 1997, is noted especially for his work on viruses and cancer. The recipient of the Nobel Prize at age 37, Baltimore has also had an illustrious career in administration, establishing the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT and leading Rockefeller University before coming to Caltech.
A New York native, Baltimore helped pioneer the molecular study of animal viruses, and his research in this field has had profound implications for understanding cancer and AIDS. In the mid-1970s, along with several other eminent biologists, he played a pivotal role in creating a consensus on national science policy regarding recombinant DNA research and also established standards that are followed by the genetics community to this day.
Baltimore has been a major figure in Washington as head of the National Institutes of Health AIDS Vaccine Research committee, and also, in 1986, as co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine's committee on a national strategy for AIDS. He was awarded the 1999 National Medal of Science in recognition of his research achievements, his excellence in building scientific institutions, and his ability to foster communication between scientists and the general public.
To nonscientists he is perhaps best known for the congressional investigation of alleged scientific fraud that centered on another MIT professor with whom he had collaborated. The matter dragged on for years, and although the other faculty member was eventually vindicated of all charges—and Baltimore totally exonerated as well—the accusations for a time damaged his scientific reputation and ultimately led to his resignation from Rockefeller.
"This is the story of one of the most extraordinary lives in science today," writes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Weiner in one of the book-jacket reviews. "I hope an Arthur Miller or a Jonathan Miller reads this book, registers the drama of the story, and puts it on the stage."
The 300-page book includes 28 photographs and five illustrations, and will be available April 30. Price of the hardbound copy is $29.95.
