Peter Sitte (1929–2015): a theistic cell biologist

Yeast becomes a cell biologist

JCB • VOLUME 171 • NUMBER 3 • 2005 408 Yeast becomes a cell biologist ummer research collaborations at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory have a magical way of unveiling cellular secrets. In 1982, when Alison Adams, her graduate advisor John Pringle, and John Kilmartin met up, little did they know that their attempts to visualize actin and tubulin would transform yeast from a genetics-...

Philosophy of a Biologist *

A quarter century is, indeed, a rather brief period to allow for the development of a philosopher, and yet, though I make no claim to such a title, I choose to preface the little I have to say by stating that it might be termed the "philosophy of a biologist." Perhaps I should also add that I can hardly qualify as a biologist, since my activities throughout the period in question have been-conf...

An unconventional route to becoming a cell biologist

I am honored to be the E. B. Wilson Award recipient for 2015. As we know, it was E. B. Wilson who popularized the concept of a "stem cell" in his book The Cell in Development and Inheritance (1896, London: Macmillan & Co.). Given that stem cell research is my field and that E. B. Wilson is so revered within the cell biology community, I am a bit humbled by how long it took me to truly grasp his...

The Journey of a Biologist

Oppy and Modal Theistic Proofs

I argue that Graham Oppy’s attempt to redefend his charge that all modal theistic arguments “must be question-begging” is unsuccessful. Oppy’s attempt to show that theism and modal concretism are compatible is not only tangential for his purposes, it is marred by a misunderstanding of theism, and vulnerable to a counterexample that actually demonstrates incompatibility. Moreover, the notion of ...