Gunther Stent
Encyclopedia
Gunther S. Stent was Graduate Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley
. He was born in Berlin as "Günter Siegmund Stensch"; the name was changed after the migration to the USA (in 1940 to Chicago). One of the early bacteriophage
biologists, he was known also for his studies on the metabolism
of bacteria
and neurobiology of leech
es, and for his writing on the history and philosophy of biology.
His introductory textbook, Molecular Genetics; an Introductory Narrative has been translated into Italian
, Japanese
, Russian
, and Spanish
.
He was perhaps most generally known for his works on the progress of science, especially his 1969 lectures at Berkeley published as The Coming of the Golden Age
Gunther also lectured in the molecular biology portion of Biology 1 at UC Berkeley. He had a very unusual lecture style; he introduced the major experiments that advanced the field of molecular biology in a chronological order. It provided students with a unique understanding of both molecular biology and experimentation.
Gunther was also at Oxford in 1953 when Watson and Crick made their announcement that they had "discovered the secret of life". There is a picture of Gunther with Watson and Crick in the book titled "The Double Helix".
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. He was born in Berlin as "Günter Siegmund Stensch"; the name was changed after the migration to the USA (in 1940 to Chicago). One of the early bacteriophage
Bacteriophage
A bacteriophage is any one of a number of viruses that infect bacteria. They do this by injecting genetic material, which they carry enclosed in an outer protein capsid...
biologists, he was known also for his studies on the metabolism
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
of bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
and neurobiology of leech
Leech
Leeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like other oligochaetes such as earthworms, leeches share a clitellum and are hermaphrodites. Nevertheless, they differ from other oligochaetes in significant ways...
es, and for his writing on the history and philosophy of biology.
His introductory textbook, Molecular Genetics; an Introductory Narrative has been translated into Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.
He was perhaps most generally known for his works on the progress of science, especially his 1969 lectures at Berkeley published as The Coming of the Golden Age
Gunther also lectured in the molecular biology portion of Biology 1 at UC Berkeley. He had a very unusual lecture style; he introduced the major experiments that advanced the field of molecular biology in a chronological order. It provided students with a unique understanding of both molecular biology and experimentation.
Gunther was also at Oxford in 1953 when Watson and Crick made their announcement that they had "discovered the secret of life". There is a picture of Gunther with Watson and Crick in the book titled "The Double Helix".
Books on Molecular biology
- Stent, G. S. (1998). Nazis, Women, and Molecular Biology: Memoirs of a Lucky Self-hater. Kensington, Calif: Briones Books.
- Muller, K. J., Nicholls, J. G., & Stent, G. S. (1981). Neurobiology of the Leech. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Stent, G. S. (1971). Molecular Genetics; an Introductory Narrative. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
- Italian translation: Stent, G. S., & Stent, G. S. (1977). Genetica molecolare. Bologna, Italy: Zanichelli.
- Russian translation: Stent, G. S., Calendar, R., & Stent, G. S. (1981). Molekuli︠a︡rnai︠a︡ genetika. Moskva: Izd-vo MIR.
- Spanish translation: Stent, G. S. (1981). Genética molecular. Barcelona: Omega.
- Japanese translation: Stent, G. S., Calendar, R., & Nagano, K. (1983). 分子遺伝学. Bunshi idengaku 岩波書店.
- Stent, G. S. 1963. Molecular Biology of Bacterial Viruses. WH Freeman and Co., San Francisco, CA. OCLC 268815
Books edited
- John CairnsJohn Cairns (biochemist)John Forster Cairns FRS is a British physician and molecular biologist who made significant contributions to molecular genetics, cancer research, and public health....
, G. Stent, and J. D. Watson, eds. 2007. Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology (40th anniversary edition). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory PressCold Spring Harbor Laboratory PressCold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press was founded in 1933 to aid in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's purpose of furthering the advance and spread of scientific knowledge....
, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, ISBN 0-87969-800-4 - Cairns, J., G. Stent, and J. D. Watson. 1992. Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology (expanded edition). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY. OCLC 25872929
- Cairns, J., G. Stent, and J. D. Watson. 1966. Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY. OCLC 712215
- German translation: Cairns, J., Geissler, E., Stent, G. S., Thomas-Petersein, G., & Watson, J. D. (1972). Phagen und die Entwicklung der Molekularbiologie (Phages and the origins of molecular biology, [German].) Hrsg. v. John Cairns.
- Watson, J. D., & Stent, G. S. (1980). The Double Helix: a Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. New York: Norton.
- Stent, G. S. (1978). Morality as a biological phenomenon: report of the Dahlem Workshop on Biology and Morals, Berlin 1977, November 28 to December 2. Life Sciences Research Report, 9. Berlin: Dahlem Konferenzen.
Books on Philosophy of science
- Stent, G. S. (2002). 'Paradoxes of free will'. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, v. 92, pt. 6. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
- Delbrück, M., & Stent, G. S. (1986). Mind from matter? an essay on evolutionary epistemology. Palo Alto, Calif: Blackwell Scientific Publications.
- German translation: Delbrück, M., Fischer, E. P., & Stent, G. S. (1986). Wahrheit und Wirklichkeit über die Evolution des Erkennens. Hamburg: Rasch und Röhring Verlag.
- Spanish translation: Delbrück, M., Stent, S. G., & Casadesús, J. (1989). Mente y materia ensayo de epistemología evolutiva. Alianza Universidad, 616. Madrid: Alianza.
- Stent, G. S., & Ogawa, M. (1981). 真理>と悟り : 科学の形而上学と東洋哲学 Shinri to satori kagaku no keijijōgaku to tōyō tetsugaku. 朝日出版社, Tōkyō: Asahishuppansha.
- Stent, G. S. (1980). Morality as a biological phenomenon the pre-suppositions of sociobiological research. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Stent, G. S. (1978). Paradoxes of progress. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
- Spanish translation: Stent, G. S. (1986). Las paradojas del progreso. Barcelona: Salvat.
- Stent, G. S. (1969). The coming of the Golden Age; a view of the end of progress. Garden City, N.Y.: Published for the American Museum of Natural History [by] the Natural History Press.
- French translation: Stent, G. S., & Bourdet, C. (1973). L'Avènement de l'âge d'or. L'humanité au carrefour de son évolution [Paris]: Fayard.
External links
- Guide to the Gunther S. Stent Papers at The Bancroft Library
- berkeley.edu