HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ursula W. Goodenough (born March 16, 1943) is a Professor of
Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
Emerita at Washington University in St. Louis were she engaged in research on eukaryotic algae. She authored the textbook ''Genetics'' and the best-selling boo
''The Sacred Depths of Nature'',
now in its second edition and has presented the paradigm of th
Religious Naturalist Orientation
and the Epic of Evolution in numerous venues around the world. She contributed to the NPR blog, ''13.7: Cosmos & Culture'', from 2009 to 2011. She currently serves as president of th
Religious Naturalist Association


Background

Goodenough, daughter of
Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough (24 October 1893 – 20 March 1965) was a scholar in the history of religion. He is specifically noted for his study of the influence of Greek culture on Judaism, what some call Hellenistic Judaism. Goodenough was born i ...
an
Evelyn Goodenough Pitcher
earned a B.A. in
Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, an ...
from
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
in 1963, an M.A. in Zoology at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1965 and a Ph.D. in
Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
in 1969. She was an assistant and associate professor of biology at Harvard from 1971 to 1978 before moving to Washington University. She wrote three editions of a widely adopted textbook, ''Genetics''. She served as president of The American Society for Cell Biology in 1984–1985, was elected to the Cellular and Developmental Biology section of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 2009, was elected a Fellow of the
American Society for Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...
in 2013 and was awarded a Doctor of Letters ''Honoris Causa'' by the Meadville School of Theology in 2022. Since 2013, Goodenough has been listed on the Advisory Council of the
National Center for Science Education The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit membership organization in the United States whose stated mission is to educate the press and the public on the scientific and educational aspects of controversies surrounding ...
. Goodenough joined the
Institute on Religion in an Age of Science The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) is a non-denominational society that promotes and facilitates the ongoing dialectic between religion and science. The Institute has held annual week-long conferences at Star Island in New Hampsh ...
(IRAS) in 1989 and has served continuously on its council and as its president for four years. She has presented papers and seminars on science and religion to numerous audiences, co-chaired six IRAS conferences on Star Island, and serves on the editorial board of '' Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science''.


Family

Goodenough has written that women balancing the demands of raising children and developing a career need to understand that they can do both. She says that realizing that a child's development is influenced by many people in their lives other than their mother has helped her achieve both her personal and professional goals. She is the mother of five children: Jason, Mathea, Jessica, Thomas, and James. Goodenough's brothers are the noted solid-state physicist
John B. Goodenough John Bannister Goodenough ( ; born July 25, 1922) is an American materials scientist, a solid-state physicist, and a Nobel laureate in chemistry. He is a professor of Mechanical, Materials Science, and Electrical Engineering at the Universit ...
(born 1922), who is the oldest recipient of the
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
in history at age 97, and the anthropologist
Ward Goodenough Ward Hunt Goodenough II (May 30, 1919 – June 9, 2013) was an American anthropologist, who has made contributions to kinship studies, linguistic anthropology, cross-cultural studies, and cognitive anthropology. Biography and major works G ...
(1919-2013).


Teaching

Goodenough taught a junior/senior level cell biology course at
Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
for many years. She also joined physicist Claude Bernard and earth-scientist
Michael Wysession Michael E. Wysession (born December 6, 1961) is a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and author of numerous science textbooks published by Pearson Education, Prentice Hall and the Savvas Learning Cor ...
for 10 years in teaching a course called The Epic of Evolution directed at non-science majors. She has also taught graduate-level courses in microbial biology.


Dalai Lama

In 2002, Goodenough was a member of a five-scientist panel invited by the
Mind and Life Institute The Mind & Life Institute is a US-registered, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1991 to establish the field of contemplative sciences. Based in Charlottesville, Va., the institute “brings science and contemplative wisdom togeth ...
as part of an ongoing series of seminars on Western science for
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
and his inner circle of monk-scholars. Previous seminars explored particle physics and neuroscience. This was the Dalai Lama's first foray into cellular biology. Goodenough found him a quick study: "He's very interested in science and really wants to understand this stuff. We'd been told that he knew about DNA and proteins, but when I started it became clear that he had very little background. Of course, one is left to wonder how many of the world's leaders understand DNA proteins." Goodenough was joined by scientists
Stuart Kauffman Stuart Alan Kauffman (born September 28, 1939) is an American medical doctor, theoretical biologist, and complex systems researcher who studies the origin of life on Earth. He was a professor at the University of Chicago, University of Pennsylv ...
,
Steven Chu Steven ChuEric Lander Eric Steven Lander (born February 3, 1957) is an American mathematician and geneticist who served as the 11th director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Science Advisor to the President, serving on the presidential Cabinet. ...
. Goodenough was invited back to Dharamsala, India to lecture again in 2003.


Research

Goodenough and colleagues have studied the molecular basis and evolution of life-cycle transitions in the flagellated green alga, ''
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ''Chlamydomonas reinhardtii'' is a single-cell green alga about 10 micrometres in diameter that swims with two flagella. It has a cell wall made of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, a large cup-shaped chloroplast, a large pyrenoid, and an eye ...
''. They have identified genes in the mating-type (mt) locus and genes regulated by mt that control the transition between vegetative growth and gametic differentiation and zygote development. These include genes responsible for mate recognition, uniparental inheritance of chloroplast DNA, and gametic differentiation, allowing analysis of their function and their evolution during speciation. They have also explored the potential for producing algal biodiesel as a transportation fuel.


References


External links


Religious Naturalist Association Board of Directors (Goodenough, President)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodenough, Ursula 1943 births Living people 21st-century American biologists American spiritual writers Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Religious naturalists Washington University in St. Louis faculty Presidents of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science Barnard College alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American women biologists 21st-century American women Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences