HISTNEUR-L: The History of Neuroscience Internet Forum

Re: obituary: Sir Alan Hodgkin

• Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 11:34:37 -0500
• To: histneur-l@library.ucla.edu
• From: Adele A. Lerner <alerner@mail.med.cornell.edu>
• Subject: Re: obituary: Sir Alan Hodgkin
• Message-ID: 3.0.1.32.19981223113437.006ce5e4@mail.med.cornell.edu

Woops, my mouse was too fast. Here's a copy from a web search on Peyton
Rous' name. So EVERYONE was inaccurate.

	>Cancer Most Fowl
>
>Today is the birthday of Francis Peyton Rous, an American pathologist
known for his pioneering research on cancer. In 1909,
>Rous was given a Plymouth Rock chicken with a large breast tumor, and he
experimented by transferring a cell-free filtrate of the
>tumor into healthy chickens. Surprisingly, the same spindle-cell sarcoma
tumors developed in the healthy chickens. Flying in the
>face of contemporary ideas about cancer, Rous suggested that a virus
triggered the tumors. But he was unable to produce similar
>results in mammals, and the idea was not taken seriously. In the 1930s
Rous resumed cancer research when it was shown that a
>virus caused wild rabbits to develop skin warts and papilloma. Using this
new animal model, Rous showed that viruses, chemicals
>such as tar, and radiation can collaborate to enhance tumor development.
For his 1910 discovery that a virus can cause cancer,
>Rous was awarded a share of the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1966. He died
in 1970.

Adele A. Lerner, Archivist
New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center
1300 York Avenue
New York, NY  10021-4896

212-746-6072
FAX 212-746-8279