Rita R. Colwell
Rita Rossi Colwell (born November 23, 1934 in Beverly , Massachusetts ) is an American microbiologist .
Life
Colwell received a bachelor's degree in bacteriology in 1956 and a master's degree in genetics from Purdue University in 1958, and received a doctorate in marine microbiology from the University of Washington in 1961. There she was then Research Assistant Professor and from 1964 Assistant Professor and from 1966 Associate Professor of Biology at Georgetown University . In 1972 she became a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park . She was founding director of the Center of Marine Biotechnology from 1987 to 1991 and president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute from 1991 to 1998. After serving as NSF president, she returned to the University of Maryland and also taught at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University .
plant
Colwell is an expert in marine microbiology and marine biotechnology and the application of molecular genetic techniques in the extraction of medical, technical and aquaculture products from the sea. She studied the phylogeny, ecology and physiology of marine bacteria. Colwell organized an international network for questions about the worldwide safe water supply and the spread of infections (especially cholera ), especially through unclean water.
She is the author or co-author of around 800 scientific publications and 17 books and she produced the award-winning film Invisible Seas about microorganisms in the sea.
In the 1960s, she discovered that the cholera bacteria occur naturally in coastal waters (such as estuaries) and that epidemic outbreaks in humans are related to the multiplication of their host mechanisms in the sea (plankton). She investigated natural bacteria that break down the polluting oil in the sea and found that oyster larvae were attracted to certain bacterial mats underwater (used in oyster farming). In order to use the potential of microorganisms in the sea (with genetic engineering and molecular biological methods) for biotechnology, she founded a corresponding institute at the University of Maryland in the 1980s.
Memberships and honors
From 1983 to 1990 she was on the National Science Board under US President Ronald Reagan .
From 1998 to 2004 she was President of the National Science Foundation (NSF). She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations . She was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995 , and she was president of the American Society for Microbiology , the International Union of Microbiological Societies, the International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, Sigma Xi, and the Washington Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society , the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and has been an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy since 2010 . In 2008 she was President of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. In 2006 she received the National Medal of Science , in 2017 the Vannevar Bush Award from the NSF and the International Prize for Biology . Colwell holds multiple honorary doctorates (including Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh). She is a member of the Norwegian Research Council. For 2018 she was awarded the Helmholtz Medal of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences .
She received the Fisher Award from the American Society for Microbiology in 1985, the Gold Medal Award from the International Institute of Biotechnology in 1990 and the Phi Kappa Phi National Scholar Award in 1993. The Colwell massif in Antarctica is named in her honor.
Private
She has been married to the chemist Jack Colwell since 1956 and has two daughters. Her hobbies include jogging and competitive sailing.
Fonts
- Biotechnology in the marine sciences, Science, Vol. 222, 1983, pp. 19-23
Web links
- Biography at the National Science Foundation
- biography
- Washington University
- National Women's Hall of Fame
- Archives of Maryland, biography
- Encyclopedia of World Biography 2004
Individual evidence
- ↑ Life data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Colwell, Rita R. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Colwell, Rita Rossi (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American microbiologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 23, 1934 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Beverly , Massachusetts |