Distinguished Professor Rudolf A. Raff | |||
 Photo by: Paul Martens Rudolf A. Raff James H. Rudy Professor of Biology Director, Indiana Molecular Biology Institute, College of Arts and Sciences, University Graduate School, IU Bloomington
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Many scientists perform
pioneering research in their fields, but only a few are fortunate
enough to have defined a new field. IU’s Rudolf Raff has made
his career in experimental science by building a bridge between two
formerly separate fields--evolutionary biology (the study of the
evolution of new organisms) and developmental biology (the study of
how individual organisms develop). The birth of a new discipline,
evolutionary developmental biology, resulted. Swarthmore College Professor
Scott Gilbert has said that Raff "is accomplishing a resynthesis
of the entire field of biology--nothing less." Raff, who served as a Navy lieutenant and was instructor-in-chief of the Summer Embryology Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, founded the Indiana Molecular Biology Institute at IU in 1983. In his books, four in all, Raff has focused on evolutionary developmental biology. His most recent, The Shape of Life: Genes, Development and the Evolution of Animal Form, was applauded for its breadth of knowledge and scientific impact. It is being made into a TV series, produced by Sea Studios and the National Geographic Society. Raff is co-founder and editor-in-chief of the journal Evolution & Development and has served as an associate editor for several other journals. He is a member of the editorial boards of History of Biology and Biology and Philosophy. Raff has been invited to lecture widely--recently at the University of Chicago, Duke University, the University of Toronto, the Pasteur Institute in Paris and a public lecture sponsored by the city of Aomori in Japan. Since 1986, Raff has been an annual visiting scholar at the University of Sydney, Australia. Awards that Raff has received include fellowships from the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society and the Guggenheim Foundation. He won the 2001 Kowalevsky Medal and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000.
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Publication date: March 1, 2002
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