Rudolf “Rudy” Raff, a pioneer in the field of evolutionary development—also known as evo-devo—passed away last weekend (January 5) at age 77. The longtime Indiana University (IU) professor had retired last January, after nearly half a century at the school.
“Rudy was a pioneer of the field now known as Evo-Devo and his work received numerous awards and honors,” Gregory Demas, chair of the biology department at IU, wrote in a Facebook post announcing Raff’s death. “Perhaps more important than his scientific and scholarly accomplishments (and there were indeed many), Rudy was a wonderful colleague, friend, and mentor to many of us at IU, and he was vital to the growth and success of the department over the last half-century.” (Disclosure: Demas was on this reporter’s graduate committee at IU and Raff taught one of her classes.)
Raff was born in Quebec in 1941 and eight years later moved with ...
