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René Jules Dubos

ルネ・ジュール・デュボス

Runē Jūru Dyubosu

Aliases: René Dubos

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1901-02-20 （Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, France）
Died
1982-02-20 （New York City, New York, U.S.） age 81
Nationality
French, American
Languages
French, English
Residence History
Île-de-France, France → New York, United States

Career

Occupations
Microbiologist, Experimental pathologist, Environmentalist, Humanist
Active Years
1927-1982
Affiliations
The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now The Rockefeller University), Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health
Memberships
American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences
Influenced By
Oswald Avery

Education

National Institute of Agronomy
Agronomy
Country: France
Attended high school and National Institute of Agronomy in Paris
Rutgers University
Microbiology
Degree: Ph.D.
Year of Graduation: 1927
Country: United States

Awards

E. Mead Johnson Award
1941
Result: Winner
Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
1948
Organization: Lasker Foundation
Result: Winner
Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
1969
Work: So Human An Animal
Category: General Nonfiction
Organization: Columbia University
Result: Winner
Cullum Geographical Medal
1975
Organization: American Geographical Society
Result: Winner
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
1976
Organization: University of Southern California
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

So Human An Animal

1968 General Nonfiction

How We Are Shaped by Surroundings and Events

EnvironmentHuman natureAdaptation

Mirage of Health

1959 Nonfiction

Utopias, Progress & Biological Change

HealthBiologySociety

Man Adapting

1966 Nonfiction
AdaptationEnvironment

The White Plague

1952 Nonfiction

Tuberculosis, Man, and Society

TuberculosisSociety

Bibliography

  • The Bacterial Cell in its Relation to Problems of Virulence, Immunity and Chemotherapy (1945)
  • Louis Pasteur, Free Lance of Science (1950)
  • The White Plague: Tuberculosis, Man, and Society (1952)
  • Biochemical Determinants of Microbial Diseases (1954)
  • Man, Medicine, and Environment (1968)
  • Mirage of Health: Utopias, Progress & Biological Change (1959)
  • Pasteur and Modern Science (1960)
  • The Dreams of Reason: Science and Utopias (1961)
  • The Unseen World (1962)
  • The Torch of Life: Continuity in Living Experience (1962)
  • Man Adapting (1966)
  • So Human An Animal (1968)
  • Reason Awake (1970)
  • Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet (1972)
  • A God Within (1973)
  • Of Human Diversity (1974)
  • Beast or Angel: Choices That Make Us Human (1974)
  • The Professor, the Institute, and DNA: Oswald T. Avery (1976)
  • The Wooing of Earth (1980)
  • Quest: Reflections on Medicine, Science, and Humanity (1980)
  • Celebrations of Life (1981)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Scientifically informed humanistic prose
Recurring Motifs
Interplay of environment and humanityMicrobes and healthAdaptation and resilience

Health

  • Heart failure
    1982-02-20
    Cause of death

Legacy

Pioneered isolation of antibiotics from soil microbes (tyrothricin, gramicidin). Environmentalist who coined 'Think globally, act locally'. Spent career at Rockefeller University.

Archives

  • Rockefeller Archive Center
  • Pace University

In Popular Culture

  • Influenced environmental movement with 'Think globally, act locally'

Quotes

  • Think globally, act locally
    Source: Various works (1977)

Trivia

  • Died of heart failure on his 81st birthday.
  • His wife Jean Porter Dubos died in 1988.
  • Served as advisor to the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment.