JOHN G. HILDEBRAND
Regents Professor
Department of Neuroscience
University of Arizona
Tucson, ArizonaCOURTESY OF JOHN HILDEBRANDIt began with a fateful encounter with a praying mantis. In 1965, a young John Hildebrand, then a biochemistry PhD student at Rockefeller University in New York City, spent his evenings in the university library catching up on the latest publications (“You know—before there was an Internet,” he says).
One night, long after the sun had set and only a few people still milled around the library, Hildebrand was perusing the New Books shelf and noticed a slim volume with a vivid color photograph of a praying mantis on the cover. “I really liked praying mantises—as a kid I used to keep them as pets—so I picked up the book,” says Hildebrand. He settled into a large easy chair and read the book from cover to cover.
“If I hadn’t liked praying mantises, I wouldn’t have picked up the book, and I don’t know that I would ever have found what I’ve loved doing ever since then.”
“When I put it back on the shelf, the little voice in my head said, ‘That’s it. ...
