Clarence C. Little
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Clarence Cook Little (October 6, 1888 – December 22, 1971) was an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
,
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
, and
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
researcher and
academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some ...
, as well as a proponent of
eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...
.


Early life

C. C. Little was born in
Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...
and attended
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
after his secondary education at the
Noble and Greenough School The Noble and Greenough School, commonly known as Nobles, is a coeducational, nonsectarian day and five-day boarding school in Dedham, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. It educates 638 boys and girls in grades 7–12. The school's campus border ...
. Little received an A.B. from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1910, an M.S. in 1912, and D.Sc. in 1914 in zoology, with special focus in the new science of genetics. During
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Little served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, attaining the rank of Major. Following the war he spent three years at the
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a private, non-profit institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neuroscience, botany, genomics, and quantitative biology. It is located in Laurel Hollow, New York, in Nassau County, on ...
. In 1921, he helped found the
American Birth Control League The American Birth Control League (ABCL) was founded by Margaret Sanger in 1921 at the First American Birth Control Conference in New York City. The organization promoted the founding of birth control clinics and encouraged women to control their ...
with
Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...
and
Lothrop Stoddard Theodore Lothrop Stoddard (June 29, 1883 – May 1, 1950) was an American historian, journalist, political scientist and white supremacist. Stoddard wrote several books which advocated eugenics, white supremacy, Nordicism, and scientific raci ...
.


Career

While studying under W. E. Castle, Little began his work with
mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
, focusing on inheritance, transplants, and grafts. He also was an assistant dean and secretary to the president. In 1921, he inbred the mouse strain
C57BL/6 C57BL/6, often referred to as "C57 black 6", "B6", "C57" or "black 6", is a common inbred strain of laboratory mouse. It is the most widely used "genetic background" for genetically modified mice for use as models of human disease. They are the ...
or "black 6", which is the most popular
laboratory mouse The laboratory mouse or lab mouse is a small mammal of the order Rodentia which is bred and used for scientific research or feeders for certain pets. Laboratory animal sources for these mice are usually of the species ''Mus musculus''. They ...
to date. His most important research occurred at Harvard, including what some call his most brilliant work, "A
Mendelian Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularized ...
explanation for the inheritance of a trait that has apparently non-Mendelian characteristics". His observations on transplant rejection became codified into the "five laws of transplant immunology" by George Snell. Little developed the "DBA ( Dilute, Brown and non-Agouti)" strain of mice while at Harvard. For his research, he received posthumously the 1978 Cancer Research Institute
William B. Coley Award The William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology is presented annually by the Cancer Research Institute, to scientists who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of basic and tumor immunology and whose ...
. Little accepted the post of President of the
University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
in 1922, becoming at age 33 the youngest university president in the country. While there he started a summer laboratory in
Bar Harbor Bar Harbor () is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. The town is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory, and MDI Biological Laboratory. ...
. In 1925, he left to become the President of the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
. His tenure at the university was controversial due to his outspokenness in favor of
eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...
,
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...
, and
euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...
. He left Michigan in 1929 in order to devote himself to his research at Bar Harbor. With funding from Detroit car manufacturers, he was able to improve the facility for year-round use. He renamed it the "
Jackson Laboratory The Jackson Laboratory (often abbreviated as JAX) is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution which was founded by Clarence Cook Little in 1929. It employs over 3,000 employees in Bar Harbor, Maine; Sacramento, California; F ...
" in honor of one donor, Roscoe B. Jackson of the Hudson Motor Car Corporation. Also in 1929, he took on a part-time job as managing director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer (later became the
American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...
(ACS)) and served as President to the
American Eugenics Society The American Eugenics Society (AES) was a pro-eugenics organization dedicated to "furthering the discussion, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge about biological and sociocultural forces which affect the structure and composition of huma ...
. Funding for the
Jackson Laboratory The Jackson Laboratory (often abbreviated as JAX) is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution which was founded by Clarence Cook Little in 1929. It employs over 3,000 employees in Bar Harbor, Maine; Sacramento, California; F ...
was extremely limited during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, but it received one of the first grants from the newly formed
National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
in 1938. Little energetically developed both the lab and the ACS, and by 1944 they were shipping 9000 mice a week to other laboratories. The laboratory and all of the livestock were destroyed in the Great Bar Harbor Fire in the Fall of 1947. The lab was quickly rebuilt and most mouse strains were recovered from other labs around the world. By 1950, the lab was maintaining 60 inbred strains, and had developed the F1 hybrid that became widely used for chemical testing. Little resigned in 1954. His last major post, from 1954 to 1969, was as the Scientific Director of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Tobacco Industry Research Committee (renamed Council for Tobacco Research in 1964). In that role, he was a leading scientific voice of the
tobacco industry The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any ...
and oversaw a USD 1 million research budget that gave grants to hundreds of scientists. In 1959, he refuted his earlier assertion, made as Director of the ACS, that inhaling fine particles is unhealthy, and stated that smoking does not cause lung cancer and is at most a minor contributing factor. A decade later he stated, "there is no demonstrated causal relationship between smoking or any disease." In keeping with his earlier research, he believed that the main cause of cancer was genetic, not environmental.


Death and legacy

Little died of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
in 1971 in
Ellsworth, Maine Ellsworth is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Maine, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 Census determined it had a population of 8,399. Named after Founding Fathers of the United States, United States Foundi ...
at the age of 83. The C. C. Little Science Building at the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, and C. C. Little Hall at the
University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
, were both named in his honor. In 2017, five faculty members and an undergraduate student submitted a formal request to University of Michigan President
Mark Schlissel Mark Steven Schlissel (born November 24, 1957) is an American medical scientist who served as the 14th president of the University of Michigan from 2014 to 2022. He was removed from the office by the Board of Regents for being in "an inappropri ...
to change the building's name because of Little's previous support of eugenics. The C. C. Little Science Building sign was replaced without Little's name on March 29, 2018. On April 26, 2021, the University of Maine announced that C. C. Little Hall would be renamed after Beryl Williams. In 2022 the name change was complete. The building is now formally called Beryl Warner Williams Hall, and has a new cultural exhibit in the lobby.


See also

*
Eugenics in the United States Eugenics, the set of beliefs and practices which aims at improving the Genetics, genetic quality of the human population, played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States from the late 19th century into the mid-20th c ...


References


C. C. Little, Cancer and Inbred Mice
by James F. Crow, "
Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
", Vol. 161, 1357–1361, August 2002.
Clarence Cook Little (1888-1971): The Genetic Basis of Transplant Immunology
by Hugh Auchincloss Jr* and Henry J. Winn, "American Journal of Transplantation", Volume 4 Issue 2 Page 155 - February 2004

Tobacco-related documents that mention Little.


External links


Obituary, ''Cancer Research'', 32, 1354-1356, June 1972"The strange career of C.C. Little"
Christopher Zbrozek, ''The Michigan Daily'' September 26, 2006
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, C. C. 1888 births 1971 deaths American birth control activists American Eugenics Society members American geneticists American segregationists Harvard University alumni Academics from Brookline, Massachusetts Presidents of the University of Michigan Tobacco in the United States Presidents of Planned Parenthood Presidents of the University of Maine Smoking in the United States Noble and Greenough School alumni Tobacco researchers 20th-century American academics