Daniel Koshland Jr

Just heard that Donald Koshland, a biochemist at UC Berkeley, passed away earlier this week at age 87. The former editor of Science magazine, Koshland was an expert in enzymes and an early supporter of genetic engineering. I had the opportunity to hear one of Dr. Koshland's last lectures at Berkeley, and he struck me as a great teacher and innovative thinker (indeed, that lecture inspired a forthcoming feature in Wired magazine). Addressing a room full of usually inattentive undergraduates, Koshland was engaging, insightful, and enthusiastic; at lecture's end, he had a crowd of students around the podium asking him more questions (including me). Here's a fine obituary from the San Francisco Chronicle.