- Thomas H. Jukes
Thomas Hughes Jukes (
August 26 ,1906 –November 1 ,1999 ) was a British-American biologist known for his work innutrition ,molecular evolution , and for his public engagement with controversial scientific issues, includingDDT ,vitamin C andcreationism . He was the co-author, withJack Lester King , of the 1969 "Science" article "Non-Darwinian Evolution " which, along withMotoo Kimura 's earlier publication, was the origin of theneutral theory of molecular evolution .Jukes was born in
Hastings, England , but moved toToronto in 1924. In 1933, he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from theUniversity of Toronto . He spent the next decade in theUniversity of California system, first as a postdoctoral fellow atUC Berkeley , then as Instructor and Assistant Professor atUC Davis . At Davis, he helped determine the relationships among theB complex vitamins through experiments onchicken s. He then left academia to work forAmerican Cyanamid 'sLederle Laboratories , where he helped established thatfolic acid is a vitamin and discovered that feedinglivestock a continual supply ofantibiotics significantly enhances growth (a practice that has become widespread in the meat industry). [ [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb1r29n709&doc.view=content&chunk.id=div00029&toc.depth=1&brand=calisphere&anchor.id=0 Thomas H. Jukes, Integrative Biology: Berkeley] , "University of California: In Memoriam, 2000", pp. 109-111. Accessed May 16, 2007.]Following the rise of
molecular biology , Jukes returned to UC Berkeley, where he spent the rest of his career. [ [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb1r29n709&doc.view=content&chunk.id=div00029&toc.depth=1&brand=calisphere&anchor.id=0 Thomas H. Jukes, Integrative Biology: Berkeley] , "University of California: In Memoriam, 2000", pp. 109-111. Accessed May 16, 2007.] Independently ofMotoo Kimura , Jukes (with Jack King) proposed in 1969 that the evolution of proteins is primarily driven bygenetic drift acting onmutations that are neither beneficial nor deleterious—theneutral theory of molecular evolution . Despite the provocative paper ("Non-Darwinian Evolution"), he was not a prominent participant in the ensuing "neutralist-selectionist debate "; defense of the neutral theory was primarily left to others, especially Kimura. In 1971, Jukes was one of the founders of the "Journal of Molecular Evolution "; his subsequent work with molecular evolution focused especially on the origin and evolution of thegenetic code . [James F. Crow, " [http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/154/3/955 Thomas H. Jukes (1906-1999)] ", "Genetics", Vol. 154 (March 2000), pp. 955-956]After returning to Berkeley, he also became heavily involved in a number of public scientific controversies, and was a gifted polemicist. In the 1960s, he fought against the introduction of
creationism into the California public schools. Following the rise of theenvironmental movement , he fought againstDDT bans, citing lack of evidence for detrimental effects toecosystem s. Between 1975 and 1980 he was one of the only scientists ever to have a regular column in the journal "Nature", which he used to denounce a variety of what he considered pseudoscience, expressing "his deep suspicion that categorical statements of scientific 'fact' are usually exaggerations." He was one of the most prominent critics ofLinus Pauling 's claims about the benefits ofvitamin C megadosage , and a frequent critic of other nutrition-based health and treatment claims, such as forhomeopathy and the supposed cancer cureLaetrile . [John Maddox , "Obituary: Thomas Hughes Jukes (1906-1999)", "Nature", Vol. 402, p. 478 (December 2, 1999)]Thomas Jukes died of pneumonia, leaving his wife Marguerite, two daughters, one daughter-in-law, and seven grandchildren. [ [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb1r29n709&doc.view=content&chunk.id=div00029&toc.depth=1&brand=calisphere&anchor.id=0 Thomas H. Jukes, Integrative Biology: Berkeley] , "University of California: In Memoriam, 2000", pp. 109-111. Accessed May 16, 2007.]
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