Colin Pittendrigh
Area: circadian rhythyms
Years: 1976-1985
Colin Pittendrigh (pronounced PIT-tin-drig) was born in Whitely Bay, England on October 13, 1918. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1940 from the University of Durham in England. A conscientious objector during World War II, Pittendrigh was assigned to wartime service to improve the banana production shipped to the UK during the war. He was assigned as a biologist to wartime service as a biologist. He next worked for the Rockefeller Foundation and the government of Trinidad to control malaria-bearing mosquitoes near military bases. Following the war he served as an adviser on malaria to the Brazilian government. (1)
A University Fellow at Columbia University in 1945-46, Pittendrigh received his doctorate from Columbia in 1948. Prior to receiving his degree, he’ d been recruited as an assistant professor of biology at Princeton in 1947. A few years later Colin became a United States citizen in 1950.
At Princeton, Pittendrigh held the chair of Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology and served as Dean of Graduate Studies from 1965 to 1969. He also served on a variety of national scientific boards including the science advisory committee to the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He was chair of the 1964 National Academy of Sciences study, "Biology and the Exploration of Mars." (2)
In 1969, Colin Pittendrigh left Princeton to join the faculty of Stanford where he helped found the program in Human Biology. He later became Director and Harold A. Miller Professor of Marine Biology of the Hopkins Marine Station. While serving as the Director of the Hopkins Marine Station in 1976-1985, Pittendrigh helped to rebuild Stanford's century-old marine biology laboratory, bringing in modern cellular and neural biology, ecology and biomechanics, and turning the station into an internationally famous and vigorous one. In 1978, Pittendrigh convinced Alan Baldridge to return to his position as librarian. In 1979, Baldridge resumed his position at Hopkins Marine Station as head librarian of the C. B. van Niel Library and assistant to the director. (3) Also, in 1979, Pittendrigh worked with the an Organizing Committee, led by Dick and Claire Berlin, to establish the Friends of Hopkins Marine Station.
Pittendrigh is known as the "father of the biological clock," and helping to establish the modern field of chronobiology along with Erwin Bünning and Jürgen Aschoff. He is renowned for his careful descriptions of the properties of the circadian clock in Drosophila and other species. Pittendrigh also remains recognized for providing the first formal models of how circadian rhythms synchronize to local light-dark cycles. (4)
Supporting Pittendrigh's position at Hopkins was nearly two million in funds made available by different foundations to expand and revitalize the existing facilities. Included in the expansion was a restoration of the Monterey Boat Works, with expansion of the dive lockers and C. B. van Neil Library, a new lecture hall. During this time, the Walter K. Fisher Laboratory was renovated, accommodating a faculty researcher, a teaching room, overnight housing and storage garage. The Marinostat building was renovated and renamed the Lawrence Blinks Laboratory. Funds were also provided to support the purchase of an electron microscope. (5) During Pittendrigh's tenure, funds were secured from the National Science Foundation, Stanford University and a Friends donor for a new Sea Water System and Aquarium Facility.
Colin Pittendrigh retired from Stanford in 1984, moving to Bozeman, Montana where he continued his studies of biological clocks, working with the faculty and lecturing at Montana State University – Bozeman. (6)
References
1. Colin Pittendrigh, Father of biological clock,' dies at 77. Stanford News Release March 25, 1996, accessed April 9, 2020.
2. Ibid.
3. $2 million renovation in 1976 Hopkins offers opportunity to study marine life. The Stanford Daily. May 17, 1979.
4. Colin Pittendrigh, 'Father of biological clock,' dies at 77. Stanford News Release March 25, 1996, accessed April 9, 2020.
5. $2 million renovation in 1976 Hopkins offers opportunity to study marine life. The Stanford Daily. May 17, 1979.
6. Colin Pittendrigh, 'Father of biological clock,' dies at 77. Stanford News Release March 25, 1996, accessed April 9, 2020.
Colin Pittendrigh (Part 1): An Historical Overview of Circadian Biology
Colin Pittendrigh (Part 2): An Historical Overview of Circadian Biology
Colin Pittendrigh (Part 3): An Historical Overview of Circadian Biology
Publications:
TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE AND EVOLUTIONARY ADJUSTMENT OF CRITICAL NIGHT LENGTH IN INSECT PHOTOPERIODISM, PITTENDRIGH, CS; TAKAMURA, T. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Volume: 84 Issue: 20 Pages: 7169-7173 Published: OCT 1987
THE CIRCADIAN COMPONENT IN PHOTOPERIODIC INDUCTION, PITTENDRIGH, CS; ELLIOTT, J; TAKAMURA, T. CIBA FOUNDATION SYMPOSIA Volume: 104 Pages: 26-41 Published: 1984
SLEEP AND ACTIVITY RHYTHMS IN MICE - DESCRIPTION OF CIRCADIAN PATTERNS AND UNEXPECTED DISRUPTIONS IN SLEEP, MITLER, MM; LUND, R; SOKOLOVE, PG; et al. BRAIN RESEARCH Volume: 131 Issue: 1 Pages: 129-145 Published: 1977
MUTUAL ENTRAINMENT OF BILATERALLY DISTRIBUTED CIRCADIAN PACEMAKERS. PAGE, TL; CALDAROLA, PC; PITTENDRIGH, CS. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Volume: 74 Issue: 3 Pages: 1277-1281 Published: 1977
FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF CIRCADIAN PACEMAKERS IN NOCTURNAL RODENTS .1. STABILITY AND LABILITY OF SPONTANEOUS FREQUENCY, PITTENDRIGH, CS; DAAN, S. JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY Volume: 106 Issue: 3 Pages: 223-252 Published: 1976
FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF CIRCADIAN PACEMAKERS IN NOCTURNAL RODENTS .2. VARIABILITY OF PHASE RESPONSE CURVES, DAAN, S; PITTENDRIGH, CS. JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY Volume: 106 Issue: 3 Pages: 253-266 Published: 1976
FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF CIRCADIAN PACEMAKERS IN NOCTURNAL RODENTS .3. HEAVY-WATER AND CONSTANT LIGHT - HOMEOSTASIS OF FREQUENCY, DAAN, S; PITTENDRIGH, CS. JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY Volume: 106 Issue: 3 Pages: 267-290 Published: 1976
FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF CIRCADIAN PACEMAKERS IN NOCTURNAL RODENTS .4. ENTRAINMENT - PACEMAKER AS CLOCK, PITTENDRIGH, CS; DAAN, S. JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY Volume: 106 Issue: 3 Pages: 291-331 Published: 1976
FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF CIRCADIAN PACEMAKERS IN NOCTURNAL RODENTS .5. PACEMAKER STRUCTURE - CLOCK FOR ALL SEASONS, PITTENDRIGH, CS; DAAN, S. JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY Volume: 106 Issue: 3 Pages: 333-355 Published: 1976
Memorial Resolution:
Colin S. Pittendrigh 1919 - 1996