Symbiosis

 

Beatrix Potter

Her illustrations of Peter Rabbit and other children books are well-known and beloved. But she was also a superb scientific illustrator and biologist. She had a special interest in mycology and made significant observations of lichens that supported the early hypothesis of symbiosis between an alga and a fungus.  This theory was rejected by contemporary British botanists.  Because she was a woman and a symbiologist, she was denied permission to read a paper on her work at the Linnean Society in London.  In 1997, the Society issued a posthumous apology for her shabby treatment as a scientist.  Many of her exquisite illustrations still await publication.

potter

 

Peter Rabbit and Friends from Beatrix Potter

Peter Rabbit childrens books from Beatrix Potter.

 

Of Rabbits and Mycology - Antibiotics in Action

Beatrix Potter summary of biography

Bacteria - Animal Symbiosis

Home page for bacteria - animal symbioses: Symbiotic interactions between bacteria and animals are described with links to home pages of researchers and to publications

Endosymbiont - Wikipedia

endosymbiosis defined.

 

Lynn Margulis

Another brilliant biologist who has been denied proper recognition because of her gender.  She has been the prime proponent of the theory of symbiogenesis, the endosymbiotic origin of the eukaryotic cell and has contributed other fundamental insights in biology.

History: Endosymbiosis

Lynn Margulis revived the theory of symbiogenesis.

Dangerous and not so dangerous liaisons [pdf]

Intro to special section of Science Magazine on symbioses

 

Louis Pasteur

 

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

Here considered to be humanity's greatest benefactor...

The Curse of Louis Pasteur, Nancy Ph.D Appleton

Others see Pasteur's work as a mixed blessing.

The Dream and Lie of Louis Pasteur

In this 1940 book (full-text online), Pasteur is described as a plagiarist and an imposter

t h e d o c t o r w i t h i n

"Pasteur himself in one of the most quoted deathbed statements perhaps of all time, recanted the Theory and admitted that his rivals had been right, and that it was not the germ that caused the disease, but rather the environment in which the germ was found: 'Bernard acail raison; le terrain c'est tout, le germe c'est rien'."

 

 

Elaine Ingham

 

Soil Food Web: Services/Products

Elaine Ingham's SFI, Inc.

Ingham Article

The Soil Foodweb: It's Importance in Ecosystem Health by Elaine Ingam

soil food web

 

Many of the stories outlined here are told in a delightful way in the book:

Wakeford, Tom

2001 Liaisons of life : from hornworts to hippos, how the unassuming microbe has driven evolution / Tom Wakeford New York : John Wiley.   QH548 .W25 2001