This essay presents a select Time Line for early speculations on “extraterrestrial life” and attempts to obtain experimental evidence for past or present life on the Moon and Mars. To date, there is no credible evidence ...

This retrospective memoir by Howard Gest covers highlights of his career in several experimental sciences (microbiology, biochemistry, radiochemistry) and in the history & philosophy of science. These interests developed ...

Howard Gest was a member of the "Charles Coryell Chemistry Group" of the Manhattan (Atomic Bomb) Project at the University of Chicago and in the "secret city" of oak Ridge (TN). Research of the group was focused on ...

This essay addresses the "life styles" of contemporary academic scientists in microbiology and related fields (especially molecular biology). Owing to increasing commercialism of scientific discoveries, the relentless ...

This essay reviews the life and career of German scientist Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898). A botanist by training, Cohn was a major force in establishing bacteriology/microbiology as a scientific discipline. He was a mentor ...

Current microbiology/biochemistry textbooks are encyclopedic tomes which include little information about the scientists in academia and non-profit research institutes who erected the extensive framework of our current ...

A commentary on sundry aspects of bacteria in the natural world and in the laboratory, touching on: diversity, nutrition, the species concept, classification and taxonomy, “computer bacteroids,” the “unculturability” myth, ...

Associations with distinguished scientists during an academic career of over 60 years. Memorabilia include various research papers, books, correspondence, photographs and obituaries.