| Lewis Wolpert | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 October 1929 South Africa |
| Residence | London |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | BSc, PhD |
| Alma mater | University of Witwatersrand Imperial College London King's College London |
| Occupation | Developmental biologist |
| Years active | 1960 - Present |
| Employer | University College London (Emeritus Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology) |
| Organization | Fellow of the Royal Society Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences |
| Known for | positional-value concept in biological development |
| Notable works | Malignant Sadness: The Anatomy of Depression (1999) Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: The Evolutionary Origins of Belief (2006) |
| Awards | Hamburger prize for education – American Soc.Dev.Biol. |
| Website | |
| UCL homepage | |
Lewis Wolpert CBE FRS FRSL (born 19 October 1929) is a developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster.
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Wolpert was educated at the University of Witwatersrand (BSc), at Imperial College London, and at King's College London (PhD). As of 2010[update] he holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Biology as applied to Medicine in the Department of Anatomy and developmental biology at University College London.
Biologists recognise Wolpert for elaborating and championing the ideas of positional information and positional value: molecular signals and internal cellular responses to them that enable cells to do the right thing in the right place during embryonic development. The essence of these concepts is that there is a dedicated set of molecules for spatial coordination of cells that is the same across many species and across different developmental stages and tissues. The discovery of Hox gene codes in flies and vertebrates has largely vindicated Wolpert's positional-value concept, while identification of growth-factor morphogens in many species has supported the concept of positional information.
In addition to his scientific and research publications, he has written about his own experience of clinical depression in Malignant Sadness: The Anatomy of Depression (1999). He presented three television programmes based on the book and entitled A Living Hell on BBC2.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1980 and awarded the CBE in 1990. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999.
He is a Vice-President of the British Humanist Association.
Wolpert has a reputation as a rationalist. In a 7 April 2005 article entitled "Spiked", The Guardian asked a series of scientists "What is the one thing everyone should learn about science?" Wolpert responded:
I would teach the world that science is the best way to understand the world, and that for any set of observations, there is only one correct explanation. Also, science is value-free, as it explains the world as it is. Ethical issues arise only when science is applied to technology – from medicine to industry.[1]
He has debated William Lane Craig on the existence of God.[2]
In a lecture entitled "Is Science Dangerous?",[3] he expanded on this: "I regard it as ethically unacceptable and impractical to censor any aspect of trying to understand the nature of our world."
On 25 May 1994, Wolpert conducted an hour-long interview with Dr. Francis Crick called "How the Brain 'sees'" for The Times Dillon Science Forum; Just Results Video Productions produced a video of the interview for The Times.
On 15 January 2004, Wolpert and biologist/parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake engaged in a live debate regarding the evidence for telepathy. It took place at the Royal Society of Arts in London.[4]
In the late 1960s Wolpert proposed the illustrative French flag model, which explains how signalling between cells early in morphogenesis could be used to inform cells with the same genetic regulatory network of their position and role.
He is credited with the famous quote: "It is not birth, marriage, or death, but gastrulation which is truly the most important time in your life."
An early book was The Unnatural Nature of Science. As of 2010[update] his most recent book is Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: The Evolutionary Origins of Belief (2006). In 2009 Wolpert published "How We Live And Why We Die: The Secret Lives of Cells".