The State Of Science -- Superstars Of Science
Nearly 11 million Americans have science degrees, and nearly 2 million are working scientists. There is roughly an equal number of engineers. Washington's Department of Labor and Industries counts 26,800 scientists and 48,800 engineers in this state.
They include four Nobel Prize winners: physicist Hans Dehmelt, who has trapped atoms for study; medical researcher E. Donnall Thomas of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who pioneered bone-marrow transplants to treat leukemia and other diseases (and gave his $350,000 prize to the Hutch); and Edmond Fischer and Edwin Krebs of the University of Washington, whose work on reversible protein phosphorylation has had numerous medical applications.
MacArthur Award winner Tom Daniel is doing ground-breaking work coupling computers to zoology and animal movement. Scores of other scientists here belong to prestigious groups such as the National Academy of Sciences. Here is a brief, very incomplete sampling of their range:
Gene and disease hunters: Washington has a host of scientists working on the immense international effort to unravel the human genetic code for keys to cancer and inherited disease. The University of Washington's Leroy Hood and Maynard Olsen are leading an effort to automate the decoding and have mapped the DNA responsible for the T-cell receptor locus. Mary-Claire King, who earlier found the chromosome location for a breast-cancer gene, now leads a UW team doing similar work, and Gerard Schellenberg at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center leads a group that has found three genes related to Alzheimer's disease or premature aging. Arno Motulsky of the UW was an early pioneer in this field.
Innovators in this field include Donald Malins of the Pacific Northwest Research Institute in Seattle, who first sounded the alarm about pollution-caused tumors in Puget Sound bottom fish and currently is researching environmental causes of "free-radical" molecules that may trigger cancer. Richard Karp at the UW is applying his math and computer skills to genetic decoding.
Medicine: Examples include Lester Sauvage, founder of the Hope Heart Institute in Seattle and a pioneer of coronary bypass surgery; Earl Davie, whose work on blood clotting has helped hemophiliacs; George Ojemann, who pioneered "brain mapping" to help brain surgeons avoid injuring critical areas; Richard Palmiter, who has pioneered gene therapy in mice; Leonard Cobb, who developed the "Medic One" model to treat heart-attack victims; Ann Streissguth and Sterling Clarren, who helped define fetal alcohol syndrome; Dusty Miller, who developed the viral vector used in early gene-therapy tests on children; Ross Prentice, who oversees the largest cancer-prevention research program in the United States; Lawrence Corey and Julie McElrath, who have led early-stage tests of more than 20 AIDS vaccines; Leland Hartwell, who has had major insights into the regulation of cell division and was just named president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; and Gerald Murphy, who discovered prostate-specific antigen now used as a test for prostate cancer. Thomas Besser has researched E. coli diseases, Wendy Brown has studied animal immunity and Larry Fox has studied dairy diseases and safe milk.
Geology: Rocky Crandell and Steve Malone are among the scores of geologists who first alerted the Northwest to the dangers of Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier. Brian Atwater is part of a team that showed the region is vulnerable to earthquakes far greater than experienced in modern history. Peter Ward has done ground-breaking work on mass extinctions and geologic movement and has written several popular science books. Ed Waddington studies the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. Todd Stevens is exploring microbial life deep in Hanford basalts.
Oceans: John Delaney has led teams exploring the volcanic undersea ridge off Washington's coast and is building a permanent underwater observatory there. John Baross is pioneering work into the heat-loving bacteria that thrive there, and Jody Deming is studying pollution and bacteria in Puget Sound. Knut Aagaard is one of many local researchers who explore the Arctic.
Space: Bruce Margon is one of the designers and primary users of the Hubble Space Telescope, while Donald Brownlee is developing a probe to sample a comet. Adam Bruckner has proposed a number of low-cost ways to get into orbit and to Mars, and Abe Hertzberg has 21 patents for a host of ideas ranging from space launch to chemical processing.
Environment: Jerry Franklin led pioneering research on old-growth forests, which resulted in preservation both in the Northwest and globally. Estella Leopold has done pioneering work in ecology and environmental history, Jim Anderson has developed a computer model of Columbia River salmon migrations, Bob Charlson pioneered work on how clouds and pollution influence global-warming calculations, Ann Kennedy has learned how to "fingerprint" dust and trace its origins, John Thompson has studied how species "co-evolve," Eugene Rosa has studied the sociology of greenhouse gas production. Bob Paine discovered the importance of keystone species in his decades of work on Tatoosh Island, and Thom Dunning oversees molecular research on pollution at Hanford.
Archaeology: Jim Chatters first identified last year's Kennewick Man, a 9,300-year-old skeleton, Grover Krantz has ranged from mainstream work on Java Man to a serious hunt for Bigfoot, and Bruce Crowley is a skilled fossil hunter and preparer. Dale Croes has excavated Indian artifacts at Hoko River and is currently hunting for where the First Americans may have come ashore here, and Julie Stein excavated an Indian fishing site on Vashon Island last year.
The mind: Patricia Kuhl has investigated how babies begin acquiring language long before they speak, Elizabeth Loftus has researched the unreliability of memory, and Pepper Schwartz has won a national audience for her work on marriage and couples. William Calvin has written several acclaimed books on his ideas about the evolution of the mind.
Computers: Ed Lazowska has headed pioneering computer research at the UW that includes David Salesin's work on graphics software and Yongmin Kim's work on graphics hardware and its medical and industrial applications. Microsoft's Nathan Myhrvold is the company's futurist, and Rick Rashid is a leading company pioneer of interactive television, networks and software technology.
Compiled by Bill Dietrich, Warren King and Paul Andrews.
(Know someone who should have been on this list? E-mail science editor Mark Watanabe at mwat-new@seatimes.com.)
----------------------------------- Washington's major research centers -----------------------------------
UNIVERSITIES
1. University of Washington: 36,000 students, 16,800 faculty and staff, 90-plus research centers, $477 million in research grants in 1995. More federal research funding than any public university in nation; dominates research in Washington. Particularly sprawling is Warren G. Magnuson Health Sciences Center.
2. Washington State University: 20,233 students, 6,218 faculty and staff at campuses in Pullman, Tri-Cities, Spokane and Vancouver; $88 million in research grants in 1995. A leader in agricultural research that helped bring about the "green revolution" after World War II.
MARINE STUDIES
3. Battelle Sequim Laboratories: Famed research organization conducts marine studies on Strait of Juan de Fuca.
4. Tatoosh Island: Site of long-running study of tidal life by UW zoologist Robert Paine and colleagues.
5. Friday Harbor Laboratories: 1,856-acre station run by University of Washington, split between San Juan and Shaw islands. Research population peaks at 250 people in summer.
6. Blakely Island Field Station: Run by Seattle Pacific University.
7. Shannon Point Marine Center: Run by Western Washington University.
8. Walla Walla College Marine Station: Near Deception Pass; has chronicled alarming declines in Puget Sound species.
9. Big Beef Creek: University of Washington salmon research center; was used to helped resuscitate endangered Snake River salmon runs. Tracks threatened coho salmon stocks.
FOREST STUDIES
10. Findley Lake Reserve: Square-mile research site on Seattle's Cedar River watershed; used by UW researchers for forest studies, including effect of urban pollution on nearby mountains. Also in watershed is Thompson Research Site for similar studies.
11. Canopy crane: UW forest ecologist Jerry Franklin oversees first use of construction crane to study canopy of Washington's old-growth forests.
12. Lee Forest: 160-acre pocket of forest in midst of Snohomish County development; studies industrial forestry and impact of development on forest edges.
13. Olympic Natural Resources Center: Newly established near Forks Timber Museum, this UW center researches sustainable forestry that preserves the forest ecosystem.
14. Pack Forest: 4,250-acre forest in Pierce County used by UW to study logging, reforestation and forest-management techniques.
15. Colokum Multiple Use Research Unit: 11,300 WSU research farm 20 miles southwest of Wentachee; studies wildland management of forest, rangeland.
16. Cottonwood Plantations: 11,000 acres of hybrid trees for pulp production, first planted along lower Columbia River in 1983.
17. Weyerhaeuser Technology Center: Research complex at Weyerhaeuser's Federal Way headquarters campus; studies wood products, forest regeneration, ecology.
18. George Staebler Forest Resources Research Center: Weyerhaeuser laboratory in Centralia; studies forest-harvesting, replanting issues.
19. Rochester Timberlands Regeneration Nursery: Weyerhaeuser tree-growing complex; has experimented with supertrees and forest genetics.
U.S. FOREST SERVICE LABS
20. Seattle Forest Sciences Laboratory: One of three U.S. Forest Service labs in this state, with 25 researchers and staff.
21. Wenatchee Forest Sciences Laboratory: 15 researchers and staff.
22. Olympia Forest Sciences Laboratory: 50 researchers and staff.
AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE
23. Union Bay Ecological Research Area: 55-acre site on shores of Lake Washington; used for urban horticulture, ecology experiments.
24. Puyallup Research and Extension Center: Washington State University agricultural research center; has been churning out discoveries for 103 years.
25. Central Ferry: Agricultural research station on Snake River; researches grasses and crops.
26. Food and Environmental Quality Laboratory: Richland WSU lab; studies effects of pesticides on environment, pest-control alternatives.
27. Lind Dryland Research Station: WSU facility; has studied dryland wheat and other crops since 1915.
28. Prosser Irrigated Agricultural Research and Extension Center: Yakima Valley WSU center conducted research that turned Washington's wine industry into nation's second-largest, after California.
29. Wenatchee Tree Fruit Research Center: WSU lab helped make Washington the nation's largest producer of apples, sweet cherries, winter pears.
30. Mount Vernon Research Station: WSU facility in the Skagit Valley; studies seed crops, small fruits and vegetables.
31. Long Beach Research Station: Cranberry growers took over this WSU station in 1993 after it closed because of state budget cuts. Discoveries in preventing frost damage used worldwide.
32. Vancouver Research Station: WSU facility; studies strawberries, raspberries; closely tied to university's Vancouver branch campus.
33. Columbia Plateau: Ongoing windblown dust study; attempting to develop agricultural practices that reduce soil erosion.
HEALTH, DISEASES
34. Pacific Northwest Research Foundation: Seattle facility; doing pioneering work on environment and cancer.
35. Program for Appropriate Technology and Health: Seattle research center; develops innovative health-care techniques for developing countries.
36. Seattle Biomedical Research Institute: Tackles tropical infectious diseases and other intriguing problems.
ANIMAL RESEARCH
37. Bear Research Program: Study of captive and wild grizzly, polar, black bears in Pullman and the wilderness; has shed light on ecological needs, diet, hibernation.
38. Regional Primate Research Center: One of seven primate research facilities set up by federal government in the 1950s for medical experimentation. Troubled satellite primate center at Medical Lake near Spokane shut down last year; new facility planned at Fort Lewis.
OTHER
39. Cascades Volcano Observatory: Federal geologic research center in Vancouver; studies Northwest volcanoes.
40. Vehicle Research Institute: Laboratory at Western Washington University; pioneer in automobile-safety improvements, innovative car designs for 25 years.
41. Keyport Naval Undersea Warfare Laboratory: Navy facility; conducts research into submarine warfare.
42. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: $500 million-a-year Battelle complex employing 3,450 people working on environmental cleanup of radioactive, chemical mess left by Cold War bomb production.
43. Blue Glacier: Field station hut at glacier on Mount Olympus; glacial studies since 1957. Only permanent research station adjacent to a glacier in United States.
44. Cheekah Peak Research Station: Strong winds off Pacific give sampling station at Neah Bay most pollution-free air measured in Northern Hemisphere.
45. Manatash Ridge Observatory: Aging astronomical observatory above Ellensburg; somewhat eclipsed by UW's new Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, which can be operated remotely from desktop computers in Astronomy Department in Seattle.
46. Boeing: Washington's 500-pound gorilla of applied engineering research counts about 105 laboratories in Seattle alone, and produces a 300-page book to describe them all.