Malcolm Robert Irwin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Malcolm Robert "Bob" Irwin (born March 2, 1897 in Artesian , South Dakota , † October 12, 1987 ) was an American agricultural scientist and immunogeneticist.

Live and act

He studied agriculture at Iowa State College - a forerunner of Iowa State University - from 1916 and received a first degree in 1920. From 1921 to 1924 he was a teacher at the American agricultural school in Saloniki (Greece). This was followed by graduate studies with Ernest W. Lindström (1891–1948) at the Institute of Genetics at Iowa State University, which Irvin received in 1928 with a Ph.D. completed.

In 1928 he became a member of the national research council at Harvard University in Cambridge , and in 1929 he worked at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York. Here he had close contact with Karl Landsteiner (immunohaemologist) and Michael Heidelberger (immunochemist). In 1930 Irvin began teaching at the University of Wisconsin in Madison : first as an adjunct professor of genetics and bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin and at the same time advisor to the US Department of Agriculture and animal breeding advisor to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), from 1936 as associate professor Professor and from 1939 to 1965 as full professor of genetics. From 1951 to 1965 he was also chairman of the Institute for Genetics, made it a center of immunogenetics and at the same time founded a "school" of blood group scientists.

From 1930 onwards, Irwin and his colleagues developed reliable and standardized kits for blood group test sera to characterize the cellular antigens on red blood cells in cattle, sheep and pigs. Controversial ancestry cases could now be clarified through blood group analyzes. Irwin also examined the immunological processes after tissue transplants and cellular antibody formation. These results have been extremely useful in human medicine. "In recognition of his pioneering work in the field of immunogenetics and research into blood groups in domestic animals", the German Society for Zuchtungskunde (DGfZ) awarded Irwin the gold Hermann von Nathusius Medal in 1965 .

Main work (selection)

  • The inheritance of resistance to the danysz bacillus in the rat. Iowa. 1928
  • Dissimilarities between antigenic properties of red blood cells of dove hybrid and parental genera. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 29: 850-851. 1932
  • Immuno-genetic studies of species relationships in columbidae. J. Gen. 35 (3): 351-373. 1938
  • With ba Beach and fn Bell. Studies on the bactericidal action of bovine whole blood and serum towards Brucella abortus and Brucella suis. J. Infect. Dis. 58: 15-22.

Awards

  • 1938 Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal of the American Academy of Sciences
  • 1950 member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1951–65 chairman of the genetics department of the American Academy of Sciences
  • Morrison Award from the American Society for Animal Husbandry
  • Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agricultural Sciences
  • 1965 Gold Hermann von Nathusius Medal from the DGfZ

literature

  • DO Schmidt, Munich: Hermann von Nathusius Medal for Prof. Dr. Malcolm Robert Irwin, Madison, USA. In: Züchtungskunde, 37, 1965, 4, 241-243.
  • Ray D. Owen: Malcolm Robert Irwin March 2, 1897 - October 12, 1987
  • Publications Malcom Irwin
  • Previous holder of the Hermann von Nathusius Medal of the German Society for Breeding Science

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Previous holder of the Hermann von Nathusius Medal
  2. ^ Biography of Malcolm Robert Irwin
personal data
SURNAME Irwin, Malcolm Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Irwin, Bob (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American agronomist and immunogeneticist
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Artesian , South Dakota
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 1987