In memoriam: Lauri Saxén (1927-2005).
Dr. Lauri "Tupu" Saxen died last October (2005) at the age of 78. He was a physician, a scientist, a photographer, a naturalist, a great story-teller and a man who enjoyed science enormously. His name has become synonymous with the Finnish school of Developmental Biology, a school that focuses on reciprocal inductive interactions during vertebrate organogenesis. But many biologists probably don't know the full extent of his importance to the field. A few years ago, I had the occasion to outline some of his contributions which are so varied and important that it is difficult to believe that they are the work of one person, and I have included them in this brief eulogy. One could divide his scientific contributions into five categories: (1) the threshold hypothesis of amphibian metamorphosis; (2) the double-gradient hypothesis of primary embryonic induction; (3) the analysis of reciprocal induction during kidney development; (4) the integration of developmental biology with epidemiology and (5) the maintenance of a national infrastructure for science.
Gilbert
Scott
S
Pennsylvania, USA.
D000818:Animals; D015509:Developmental Biology / Q000266:history*; D005387:Finland; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans