Saying Goodbye

On February 2, 2008, my mentor, beloved colleague, and friend, Joshua Lederberg, succumbed to pneumonia after a long illness. The irony is that he was the ultimate herald of humankind's eternal battle with bacteria and their ability to develop resistance to antibiotics. His prescient essay on the theme "Medical science, infectious disease, and the unity of humankind," published originally in JAMA 1 and reprinted in Current Contents, 2 exemplifies his insight and erudition. To say that Josh was a genius is simply inadequate to describe the breadth of his polymathic talents and interests. Indeed, he was unquestionably one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century.

The editor of a well known life science journal recently asked me to comment on Lederberg's biological work. I declined but referred him instead to several of his laboratory colleagues. From a citationist's perspective, however, there is little doubt about his impact since ...