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Blueprints: Falvey LibraryContents: February 2001
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On January 22, Robin Marantz Henig reintroduced us to the work, theories and myths of Gregor Mendel through the discussion of her book The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics. Henig's book was recently nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Because most of
Mendel’s papers were burned by his successor at the monastery in what is now Brno,
Czech Republic, there are few records of his work.
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Henig points out that unfortunately Mendel was an obscure friar from an obscure country published in an obscure journal: He had no connections. And most of the biologists who did read the article would not have had the background to understand Mendel’s mathematics and theories. Perhaps most of all, Mendel’s theories went against the belief _common then, that inheritance was a result of blending from both parents, for example, a white and a red flower will produce pink offspring. Mendel proposed inheritance of discrete units, later called genes, which were either dominant or recessive. Therefore, the offspring of a white and a red flower would be either white or red, depending on which is dominant, not pink. Mendel’s theories were not accepted until several botanists obtained the same results 35 years later. Was Mendel a genius? Based upon Edison’s famous quote "Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration," Henig believes that "Mendel was the perspiring kind of genius." Mendel worked diligently, meticulously and patiently for many years to obtain his data. Breeding the second generation hybrids of his pea plants was inspirational; other researchers had not gone that far. His background in physics and mathematics allowed Mendel to bring a fresh perspective to the inheritance issue.
Robin Henig is a freelance writer specializing in the areas of science and medicine. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from Cornell University and her master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. After the donation to the Library of one of the originals of Mendel’s famous 1865 paper by the Augustinians of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, Falvey Library decided to establish a special collection of materials related to Mendel’s place in the history of inheritance research. Several of these titles will be displayed on the second floor of the Library until April 30. This lecture was jointly sponsored by the Falvey Memorial Library Distinguished Lecture Series and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The goal of the Falvey Memorial Library Distinguished Lecture Series is to emphasize the link between libraries and creative and intellectual endeavors and features speakers who have published outstanding works or who have been recognized for their professional achievements. Teresa Bowden is a reference librarian and liaison to the biology department. |
by Bente Polites
During the spring semester you are invited to visit an exhibit about "Gregor Mendel and the Origin of Genetics" on the second floor of Falvey Library. The opening of this exhibit coincided with the thirty-first presentation of the Mendel Medal to Dr. Michael E. DeBakey and with Robin M. Henig’s talk in Falvey Memorial Library’s Distinguished Lecture series.
In 1999 the Augustinians of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova donated a copy of Verhandlungen des Naturforschenden Vereines in Br?nn from 1866 to the University. This volume, now in Falvey Library’s Special Collections, contains the first printing of Gregor Mendel’s paper Versuche ?ber Pflanzenhybriden. In this paper Mendel reported his experiments with hybridization of pea plants. Today it is considered one of the most important papers in the history of biology.
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Inspired by this gift Falvey Library decided to begin a new special collection focusing on the study of Gregor Mendel and his role in the history of heredity and genetics. The Library has already acquired many important books and journals for the Mendeliana collection, and many of these items are currently on display. |
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One display case contains the above mentioned first edition of Gregor Mendel’s paper from 1866 in addition to Falvey’s copy of Mendel’s paper on Hieracium (hawkweed) hybrids published in 1870.
Among the books in the display is a facsimile copy of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, published in London in 1859. The first German translation was published in 1860, and Falvey’s Special Collections has acquired a third printing of this translation (1867). We know that Mendel owned and studied this translation since a copy with his marginalia or margin notes can be seen in the Mendelianum collection in Brno in the Czech Republic.
Mendel’s research was not recognized in the scientific community until the spring of 1900 when three scientists in three different countries simultaneously rediscovered Mendel’s paper.
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"De Vries, Correns, and Tschermak were studying different problems, and most probably they began their experiments without knowing of Mendel’s paper. After reading the paper they definitely revised the methods used in their further experiments, and above all interpreted the results taking into account Mendel’s approach to research in plant hybridization so far as they had perceived it." (Orel, Vitezslav. Gregor Mendel: the First Geneticist. Oxford UP, 1996. p289.) |
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Important papers by these "rediscoverers" of Mendel’s paper can be seen in the display. Hugo de Vries (1848-1935) was a Dutch botanist who in the late 1890’s conducted experiments that led him to the segregation laws, now known as Mendel’s laws. When de Vries accidentally came across Mendel’s paper he felt obliged to publish in order to protect his precedence. |
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The German Carl Correns (1864-1933) and the Austrian Erich von Tschermak (1871-1962) were the two other botanists who also conducted hybridization experiments and discovered that their results corresponded to those of Gregor Mendel. |
William Bateson (1861-1926) was the first proponent of Mendelism in English-speaking countries. Immediately after the appearance of papers by De Vries, Correns and Tschermak, Bateson reported on these to the Royal Horticultural Society in May 1900. Bateson was also responsible for the first English translation of Mendel’s Experiments in Plant Hybridisation which was published in Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1901.
At the Third Conference on Hybridisation and Plant-Breeding, in London in 1906, William Bateson said in his inaugural address "Like other new crafts, we have been compelled to adopt a terminology, which, if somewhat deterrent to the novice, is so necessary a tool to the craftsman that it must be endured. But though these attributes of scientific activity are in evidence, the science itself is still nameless, and we can only describe our pursuit by cumbrous and often misleading periphrasis. To meet this difficulty I suggest for the consideration of this Congress the term Genetics, which sufficiently indicates that our labours are devoted to the elucidation of the phenomena of heredity and variation . . . " (Report of the Third International Conference 1905 on Genetics. London: Royal Horticultural Society, 1907, pp.90-97).
This exhibit on the second floor of Falvey Memorial Library can be visited until April
30.
Bente Polites is Special Collections librarian and a reference librarian.
by Judy Olsen, Angela DiBenedetto and Jamie Trout
What mass screening methods are available for sickle cell anemia? What were some of the ethical and political implications of early screening practices? What is the mechanism of malarial resistance in heterozygotes for sickle cell anemia?
These questions about sickle cell anemia, a disease afflicting many Americans, are a sampling of the laboratory research questions posed to the General Biology students last semester. What made this "Gen Bio" lab unique was its ambitious scientific information literacy component.
During the week of November 27 more than 200 students from all fifteen sections of Gen Bio, including four Honors sections, spent part of their lab in Falvey's Griffin Instruction Room, learning to how to be better researchers. They learned to distinguish different types of scientific papers, to search two life science databases and also to evaluate pertinent Web sites.
This scientific literacy pilot project evolved when two separate groups of educators simultaneously recognized the need for earlier and more extensive research education for biology students. Last summer, Dr. Angela DiBenedetto was asked to lead the science literacy effort of the biology department's undergraduate curriculum committee. In the meantime, librarians Judy Olsen and Teresa Bowden and biology lab coordinators Jamie Trout and Katie Friggle-Norton had conferred informally about the need for all biology students to learn information research skills well before their senior seminar.
These parallel movements generated a working committee of biologists and librarians. In addition to Dr. DiBenedetto, Jamie Trout, Judy Olsen and Teresa Bowden, General Biology professors Dr. Joseph Orkwiszewski and Dr. Todd Jackman and Falvey's information literacy coordinator Barbara Quintiliano joined the committee. At the outset, Dr. Russell Gardner, biology department chair, affirmed the department's commitment to information literacy.
The committee developed the sickle cell anemia project to teach students about a significant disease, to enhance their research and presentation skills, and to provide a collaborative team experience. The sickle cell project required teams of students to research a set of questions, locate relevant review articles and Web sites, and organize their findings for a final presentation in the form of a written abstract and a class presentation.
Half of the students in Gen Bio are freshmen biology majors, while many of the others are upperclassmen in the comprehensive science concentration or biological science concentration.
As a first step, the librarians conducted a training session for the biology graduate students who teach the Gen Bio labs.
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Then, the last week of November was devoted to library and
lab sessions for all of the Gen Bio sections. |
 Teresa Bowden, Falvey reference librarian, teaches General Biology students how to research the topic sickle cell anemia using life science electronic databases. |
Two weeks later the students presented their findings to their professors and peers.
How did the students respond to the pilot project? In a subsequent questionnaire, 93% of the students said they learned about the many aspects of sickle cell disease, 80% felt they could now make better use of the electronic databases, and 72% enjoyed learning from others' presentations.
In their comments, students revealed what they felt were important skills learned. Some typical comments included "Teamwork and the use of scientific databases such as PubMed [with] which I would otherwise be unfamiliar, "and "Presenting in front of a group." One of the persistent trouble spots students identified was "finding articles that were not in the library," but this person would solve that problem by "starting earlier so that interlibrary loan could be used."
When asked what they found most valuable about the project, many answers reflected thoughtful insights. "Teaching the class was a fun way of learning." "The research skills, because they will be useful in the future." "I learned how to teach myself something."
"What I found that was most valuable was that we had to work with others and also individually, so it taught us to do both." "What I discovered from my research. I realized that I actually enjoy reading scientific journals (results and advantages are interesting). Gave me a different view of biology -- opened a different aspect (research biology)."
"Good closure to the year. Really understood a lot more about the concepts of inheritance and genetics we're been learning in bio."
Next year the committee plans to continue the Gen Bio project with some adjustments. The project will happen earlier in the semester so students will have more time to obtain and organize information and not feel pressured by impending final exams. Also, the emphasis on databases will shift from PubMed (Medline) to Expanded Academic Index, and perhaps the topic will be changed or modified.
According to Dr. DiBenedetto, "The biology department is committed to helping our students achieve a more sophisticated level of science literacy. Working together with the librarians, we plan to incorporate projects throughout our curriculum that build upon one another and that enforce skills in finding, organizing, evaluating and communicating scientific information. By doing this, we hope to graduate not only well-trained science majors, but well-informed, critically-thinking citizens."
Judy Olsen, a reference librarian, was librarian liaison to the biology department for several years. Angela DiBenedetto is assistant professor in biology, and Jamie Trout is the biology laboratory coordinator.
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Rev. Edmund Dobbin, O.S.A., Villanova University president, with departing University librarian James Mullins. A farewell reception was held for Dr. Mullins December 12. |
Did you know...?
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Also contributing to this issue of Blueprints: Louise Green, Susan
Markley, Susan Ottignon and Jacqueline Smith. Photographs and graphics by Bernadette
Dierkes, Joe Houser and Lorraine Williams.
