John L. Fuller

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John Langworthy Fuller (born July 22, 1910 in Brandon , Vermont , † June 8, 1992 in Cambridge , Massachusetts ) was an American biologist and one of the pioneers in the field of behavioral genetics . From 1947 he conducted research at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor ( Maine ). In 1970 he was appointed to a professorship in psychology at Binghamton University in New York , which he held until his retirement in December 1977.

Life

John Fuller came from both the mother and the father of a family that could trace its roots back to the early days of the settlement of North America by European immigrants: He was a direct descendant of Samuel Fuller, a passenger on the Mayflower , and his mother's family tree passed back to the landing of Andrew Langworthy on Rhode Island in 1642. John Fuller was the eldest of four children of his parents, his father initially ran a high school and was superintendent in the local New Hampshire school system from 1926 , his mother looked after about the household and children. In 1913, Brandon's family moved to Hardwick, Vermont , in 1920 to Lancaster, New Hampshire, and in 1926 to North Conway, New Hampshire.

After graduating from high school Fuller competed in 1926 for a scholarship at Yale University , where his father had in 1898 completed his teacher's exam, but could not take part in the entrance examinations because he in the hospital from the effects of strep - sepsis was treated. Therefore he accepted an offer from Bates College in Lewiston ( Maine ), where he studied biology with a focus on anatomy and systematics of animals as well as botany . After his final exam, he was invited in 1931 by an alumnus of Bates College, who was now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to apply as a research assistant for an academic program at MIT, which at the time focused on topics from the public domain Healthcare and Food Technologies. At MIT he studied bacteriology , physiology and biochemistry , taught biology and physiology, became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and met his future wife, Ruth Parsons. There he was with his assistant position a biology professor assigned, the company specializes in providing terrestrial isopods interested, dedicated his 1935 Fuller completed dissertation to 15 in the US region New England occurring terrestrial isopods . In the same year he moved from MIT to a higher-paying annual contract at Sarah Lawrence College , then to a temporary part-time position at Clark University , a summer job in the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and finally in 1937 to a permanent assistant position in the zoology department of the university of Maine in Orono , whose duties included lectures in physiology and general zoology, as well as summer limnological studies. During the Second World War he was also used as a coordinator for a program to train nurses.

When he found out in 1946 that the Rockefeller Foundation was promoting research in the field of behavioral genetics, Fuller successfully applied for a scholarship, having found over the years “that my interest in the organism as a whole was greater than in physiology of cells or organs. ”He then spent the summer of 1946 in Hamilton Station , a branch of the Jackson Laboratory , where experiments with domestic dogs of different races on the relationship between behavior and endocrine reactions were carried out. In early 1947 he was offered a position at the Jackson Laboratory, which he accepted, moved to Bar Harbor , and remained there until 1970. That year he accepted an offer to take a chair in psychology at Binghamton University, which he held until the end of 1977.

John Fuller was married to his wife Ruth for 57 years, who died in 1989. He himself succumbed to the consequences of his Alzheimer's disease in 1992 ; at her request both were buried in Bar Harbor, Maine. The couple left two daughters and one son.

research

The first research project at Jackson Laboratory was devoted to the developmental biology and genetics of domestic dog behavior for ten years : the individuals of five dog breeds ( Basenji , Beagle , Cocker Spaniel , Shetland Sheepdog and Wirehaired Fox Terrier ) were born from birth to their first birthday Compared with each other on the basis of numerous standardized tests, as well as hybrids of Cocker Spaniel and Basenji, so that statements about ontogeny as well as about the heredity of their behavior were possible. Together with literature studies on the tribal history of domestic dogs and a comparison of dogs and wolves, the findings of this long-term study were incorporated into the book Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog in 1965 . A second research topic from the late 1950s onwards was Kaspar Hauser experiments on young dogs, with the aim of finding out whether forced isolation at the age of three to 15 weeks changes social behavior in adulthood. A developmental retardation was found , but this was lost until sexual maturity. The influence of chlorpromazine on the behavior of young dogs and mice was also tested; this substance was thought to have a calming effect on hyperactive children.

In addition to keeping dogs, the Jackson Laboratory also had an extensive breed of laboratory mice , including the C57BL line, whose individuals are known for their tendency to tonic-clonic seizures caused by extremely loud noises. At the time, understanding the genetic basis of this tendency was expected to provide knowledge of the prerequisites for an epileptic seizure in humans, and such breeding lines were also used to test antiepileptic drugs . Other genetic experiments were aimed at understanding the inheritance of a tendency to alcoholism in mice; these investigations were also carried out against the background of suspected connections in humans. Fuller carried out further basic research on the genetics of food intake, among other things.

Fonts (selection)

  • Nature and Nurture: A Modern Synthesis. Doubleday, Garden City, New York 1954, full text (PDF) .
  • with William Robert Thompson: Behavior Genetics. John Wiley & Sons, New York and London 1960, full text (PDF) .
  • with John Paul Scott : Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London 1965, full text of the unchanged new edition from 1974 .
  • with William Robert Thompson: Foundations of Behavior genetics. CV Mosby, Saint Louis 1979, full text (PDF) .
  • Psychology and genetics: A happy marriage? In: Canadian Psychology. Volume 23, No. 1, 1982, pp. 11-21, doi: 10.1037 / h0081227 .
  • with Edward C. Simmel (Ed.): Behavior Genetics. Principles and Applications. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale and London 1983, full text (PDF) .
  • with Edward C. Simmel (Ed.): Perspectives in Behavior Genetics. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale and London 1986, full text (PDF) .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Norman D. Henderson: John Langworthy Fuller (1910-1992). In: Behavior Genetics. Volume 23, No. 2, 1993, pp. 109-111, doi: 10.1007 / BF01067413 , full text (PDF) .
  2. ^ John Langworthy Fuller, Of Dogs, Mice, People, and Me. In: Donald A. Dewsbury: Studying Animal Behavior. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London 1985, p. 93, ISBN 0-226-14410-0 .
  3. ↑ John L. Fuller: A comparison of the physiology, ecology and distribution of some New England woodlice. Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1935.
  4. ^ John Langworthy Fuller: Of Dogs, Mice, People, and Me, p. 98.
  5. ^ Norman D. Henderson: John Langworthy Fuller (1910-1992), p. 111.
  6. ^ John L. Fuller: Experimental Deprivation and Later Behavior. In: Science . Volume 158, No. 3809, 1967, pp. 1645-1652, doi: 10.1126 / science.158.3809.1645 .
  7. ^ John L. Fuller, Lincoln D. Clark and Marcus B. Waller: Effects of chlorpromazine upon psychological development in the puppy. In: Psychopharmacologia. Volume 1, No. 5, 1960, pp. 393-407, doi: 10.1007 / BF00441187 .
  8. ^ John L. Fuller: Strain differences in the effects of chlorpromazine and chlordiazepoxide upon active and passive avoidance in mice. In: Psychopharmacologia. Volume 16, No. 4, 1970, pp. 261-271, doi: 10.1007 / BF00404732 .
  9. ↑ John L. Fuller and Robert L. Collins, Genetics of audiogenic seizures in mice: a parable for psychiatrists. In: Seminars in Psychiatry. Vol. 2, No. 1, 1970, pp. 75-88.
  10. ↑ John L. Fuller: Measurement of alcohol preference in genetic experiments. In: Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology. Volume 57, No. 1, 1964, pp. 85-88., Doi: 10.1037 / h0043100 .
  11. ^ John L. Fuller: Genetic aspects of regulation of food intake. In: Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine. Volume 7, 1972, pp. 2-24, doi: 10.1159 / 000393291 .
personal data
SURNAME Fuller, John L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fuller, John Langworthy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biologist and behavioral geneticist
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Brandon (Vermont)
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1992
Place of death Cambridge, Massachusetts