‘Purifying’ Science: E. C. Slater and Postwar Biochemistry in the Netherlands

Bill Readings, The university in ruins (Cambridge, MA, 1996); Ehrenberg Ronald G. (ed.), The American university: National treasure or endangered species? (Ithaca, 1997).

Gibbons Michael Limoges Camille , The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies (London, 1994), 6.

Etzkowitz Henry Leydesdorff Loet , “The dynamics of innovation: From national systems and ‘Mode 2’ to a triple helix of university-industry-government relations”, Research policy, xxix (2000), 109–23; for a wider analysis of science, technology and society, see, e.g., Jasanoff Sheila Markle Gerald E. Petersen James C. Pinch Trevor (eds), Handbook of science and technology studies (Thousand Oaks, 1995).

Etzkowitz Henry Leydesdorff Loet (eds), Universities and the global knowledge economy: A triple helix of university-industry-government relations (London, 1997).

Etzkowitz Henry Webster Andrew Healey Peter (eds), Capitalizing knowledge: New intersections of industry and academia (Albany, NY, 1998); Branscomb Lewis M. Kodama Fumio Florida Richard (eds), Industrializing knowledge: University–industry linkages in Japan and the United States (Cambridge, MA, 1999).

Wise George , “Science and technology”, Osiris, 2nd ser., i (1985), 229–46, p. 229.

In this essay, the adjectives ‘pure’, ‘basic’, ‘fundamental’, and ‘applied’ are used loosely. As an illustration of the extreme confusion surrounding this terminology see, e.g., Rothschild Lord , “Forty-five varieties of research (and development)”, Nature, ccxxxix (1972), 373–8.

Slaughter Sheila Leslie Larry L. , Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university (Baltimore, 1997), 206.

Bush Vannevar , Science — The endless frontier: A report to the President on a program for postwar scientific research, July 1945 [reprint] (Washington, D.C., 1960); Kevles Daniel J. , “The National Science Foundation and the debate over postwar research policy, 1942–1945: A political reinterpretation of Science — The endless frontier”, Isis, lxviii (1977), 5–26; Reingold Nathan , “Vannevar Bush's new deal for research; or, the triumph of the old order”, in: idem, Science, American style (New Brunswick, NJ, 1991), 284–333; Kleinman Daniel L. , Politics on the endless frontier: Postwar research policy in the United States (Durham, 1995).

Kevles , op. cit. (ref. 9), 11; see also Kleinman , op. cit. (ref. 9), 138.

Reingold , op. cit. (ref. 9), 300.

Kline Ronald , “Construing ‘technology’ as ‘applied science’: Public rhetoric of scientists and engineers in the United States, 1880–1945”, Isis, lxxxvi (1995), 194–221, p. 221.

Gieryn Thomas F. , Cultural boundaries of science: Credibility on the line (Chicago, 1999), 23.

Cited in Kamminga Harmke Weatherall Mark W. , “The making of a biochemist, I: Frederick Gowland Hopkins' construction of dynamic biochemistry”, Medical history, xl (1996), 269–92, p. 292.

Kamminga Weatherall , op. cit. (ref. 14); Weatherall Mark W. Kamminga Harmke , “The making of a biochemist, II: The construction of Frederick Gowland Hopkins' reputation”, Medical history, xl (1996), 415–36.

Kamminga Harmke , “Internationalizing biochemistry: The 1949 congress in context”, Trends in biochemical sciences, xxiv (1999), 404–8.

Kohler Robert E. , From medical chemistry to biochemistry: The making of a biomedical discipline (Cambridge, 1982), 7–8.

See also Borst Piet van den Bergh Simon G. , “E. C. Slater in the Netherlands”, in: van Dam Karel van Gelder Bob F. (eds), Structure and function of energy-transducing membranes: In honour of E. C. Slater (BBA library, xiv; Amsterdam, 1977), pp. xvii–xxvi. The remainder of this essay makes use of the Slater archive which is kept in the Rijksarchief [State Archive] in Noord-Holland at Haarlem, under entrynumber RANH 379.

The renowned virologist, immunologist and Nobel prize laureate Sir Macfarlane Burnet (1899–1985) was also educated at Geelong College; for Burnet's biography, see Sexton Christopher , The seeds of time: The life of Sir Macfarlane Burnet (Oxford, 1991).

Anonymous, “Science in Australia”, Nature, clxxii (1953), 969–71.

Clements Frederick W. , A history of human nutrition in Australia (Melbourne, 1987).

Clements F. W. , Director, Australian Institute of Anatomy to W. J. Young, Department of Biochemistry, University of Melbourne; see also Slater's letter of application, dated 10 August 1939, RANH 379 452.1.

Luyken R. , “Voedingsonderzoek in voormalig Nederlands-Indi&eU: B. C. P. Jansen (1884–1962)”, Voeding, lvii/5 (1995), 19–22.

Slater E. C. , “An Australian biochemist in four countries”, in: Jaenicke Rainer Semenza Giorgio (eds), Selected topics in the history of biochemistry: Personal recollections V (Comprehensive biochemistry, xl; Amsterdam, 1997), 69–203, p. 88.

Peters Rudolph A. , “Development and theoretical significance of British anti-lewisite (BAL)”, British medical bulletin, v (1948), 313–19.

Slater E. C. , “The BAL-labile factor in the respiratory chain”, in: Semenza Giorgio (ed.), Selected topics in the history of biochemistry: Personal recollections II (Comprehensive biochemistry, xxxvi; Amsterdam, 1986), 197–253.

For a biography of Woods, see Gale Ernest F. Fildes Paul , “Donald Devereux Woods”, Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, xi (1965), 203–19.

Kratzing C. C. Slater E. C. , “Effect of sulphonamides on the aneurin economy in animals”, Biochemical journal, xlvii (1950), 24–35.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 25 October 1945, RANH 379 452.1.

For a history of the British Council, see Donaldson Frances , The British Council: The first fifty years (London, 1984).

Kohler , Medical chemistry (ref. 17), 73–92.

Dixon Malcolm , “Sir F. Gowland Hopkins, O.M., F.R.S.”, Nature, clx (1947), 44–47; Weatherall Kamminga , Construction (ref. 15).

Cited in Dixon Malcolm , Multi-enzyme systems: Four special lectures given to University College, London, May 1948 (Cambridge, 1949), 5.

Kohler Robert E. , “The history of biochemistry: A survey”, Journal of the history of biology, viii (1975), 275–318, p. 291.

Weatherall Mark W. Kamminga Harmke , Dynamic science: Biochemistry in Cambridge 1898–1949 (Cambridge, 1992), 70–73.

Cf. Meldrum Norman U. [ Green David E. (ed.)], Cellular respiration (London, 1934).

Keilin David Hartree E. F. , “Cytochrome and cytochrome oxidase”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, ser. B, cxxvii (1939), 167–91, pp. 189–90; emphasis mine.

See, e.g., Umbreit W. W. Burris R. H. Stauffer J. F. , Manometric techniques: A manual describing methods applicable to the study of tissue metabolism (Minneapolis, MN, 1945).

Weatherall Kamminga , Dynamic science (ref. 35).

Van Rensselaar Potter , “Years with Conrad Elvehjem”, in: Nelson David L. Soltvedt Brook Ch. (eds), One hundred years of agricultural chemistry and biochemistry at Wisconsin: A Steenbock symposium (Madison, WI, 1989), 103–13.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 7 October 1946, RANH 379 452.1.

Slater to Clements F.W. , 6 November 1946, RANH 379 452.1.

Slater to Clements F.W. , 15 December 1946, RANH 379 452.1.

Slater to Clements F.W. , 30 January 1947, RANH 379 452.1.

Cf. Needham Joseph (ed.), The chemistry of life: Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry (Cambridge, 1971); Peters Rudolph A. , “The faith of a master in biochemistry — The first Hopkins Memorial Lecture”, Biochemical journal, lxxi (1959), 1–9.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 112.

Interview with Slater by Weber Bruce H. , undated, RANH 379 183.

Interview with Slater by Weber Bruce H. , undated, RANH 379 183.

Slater to Priestley Henry , 23 January 1955, RANH 379 452.1.

Kamminga Harmke , “Credit and resistance: Eijkman and the transformation of beri-beri into a vitamin deficiency disease” (1998), in: Bayertz Kurt Porter Roy (eds), From physico-theology to bio-technology: Essays in the social and cultural history of biosciences: A Festschrift for Mikuláš Teich (Amsterdam, 1998), 232–54, p. 234.

Cited in Fenner Frank , “The history of the John Curtin School of Medical Research: A centre for research and postgraduate education in the basic medical sciences”, Medical journal of Australia, 1971, ii, 177–86, p. 185.

Porter R. , “The John Curtin School of Medical Research”, Medical journal of Australia, cxlii (1985), 205–13; Williams Trevor I. , Howard Florey: Penicillin and after (New York, 1984), 282–93.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 118–9.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 120.

Clements F. W. to Slater, 20 October 1947, RANH 379 452.1.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 11 October 1947, RANH 379 452.1.

Clements F. W. to Slater , 14 November 1947, RANH 379 452.1.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 25 November 1947, RANH 379 452.1.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 25 November 1947, RANH 379 452.1; Bush , Science (ref. 9), 5.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 25 November 1947, RANH 379 452.1.

Clements F. W. to Slater , 9 December 1947, RANH 379 452.1.

Clements F. W. to Slater , 26 January 1949, RANH 379 452.1.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 16 February 1949, RANH 379 452.1.

See, e.g., Kalckar Herman M. , Biological phosphorylations: Development of concepts (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1969); Teich Mikuláš Needham Dorothy , A documentary history of biochemistry 1770–1940 (Leicester, 1992), 206–70.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 122.

For a review, see Hogeboom George H. , “Fractionation of cell components of animal tissues”, Methods in enzymology, i (1955), 16–19.

Friedkin Morris E. Lehninger Albert L. , “Phosphorylation coupled to electron transport between dihydrophosphopyridine nucleotide and oxygen”, Journal of biological chemistry, clxxiv (1948), 757–8; see also Fruton Joseph S. , “Albert Lester Lehninger (17 February 1917–4 March 1986)”, American Philosophical Society yearbook, 1986, 141–4.

For Ochoa's work in the United States and Spain, see Ochoa Severo , “The pursuit of a hobby”, Annual review of biochemistry, xlix (1980), 1–30; and Santesmases María Jesús , “Severo Ochoa and the biomedical sciences in Spain under Franco, 1959–1975”, Isis, xci (2000), 706–34.

For a history of the discovery of ATP in the 1930s, see Maruyama Koscak , “The discovery of adenosine triphosphate and the establishment of its structure”, Journal of the history of biology, xxiv (1991), 145–54.

On Racker, see Schatz Gottfried , “Efraim Racker: 28 June 1913 to 9 September 1991”, in: Jaenicke Semenza , Selected topics (ref. 24), 253–76.

Siekevitz Philip , “The continuing life of the Enzyme Club of New York City: The growth of American biochemistry from 1942 to 1982”, Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, xli (1983), 213–32; see also Ratner Sarah , “A long view of nitrogen metabolism”, Annual review of biochemistry, xlvi (1977), 1–24.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 121–2.

See also van Helvoort Ton , “Institutionalizing biochemistry: The Enzyme Institute at the University of Wisconsin”, Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences, lvii (2002), 449–79.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 124–8.

For a history of the ARC, see Cooke G. W. (ed.), Agricultural research, 1931–1981: A history of the Agricultural Research Council and a review of developments in agricultural science during the last fifty years (London, 1981).

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 128.

Rothschild Lord to Slater , 23 December 1950, RANH 379 453.4; Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 129.

Slater E. C. , “Phosphorylation coupled with the reduction of cytochrome c by alpha-ketoglutarate in heart muscle granules”, Nature, clxvi (1950), 982–4.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 132–5.

Slater to Chance Britton , 30 September 1951, RANH 379 176; emphasis mine.

For a discussion of the conflicting contributions made by the latter two researchers, see Rasmussen Nicolas , “Cell fractionation biochemistry and the origins of ‘cell biology’”, Trends in biochemical sciences, xxi (1996), 319–21.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 135.

Slater E. C. , “Mechanism of phosphorylation in the respiratory chain”. Nature, clxxii (1953), 975–8.

Cf. Weber Marcel , “Theory testing in experimental biology: The chemiosmotic mechanism of ATP synthesis”, Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, xxxiii (2002), 29–52; Prebble John N. , “The philosophical origins of Mitchell's chemiosmotic concepts: The personal factor in scientific theory formulation”, Journal of the history of biology, xxxiv (2001), 433–60.

Slater E. C. , “The sixth Keilin Memorial Lecture: From cytochrome to adenosine triphosphate and back”, Biochemical Society transactions, ii (1974), 1149–63, p. 1153. I discuss the matter further in a paper as yet unpublished, entitled “Enzymology as meeting ground (or battle field) for biology and chemistry: E. C. Slater, Peter Mitchell and the controversy on oxidative phosphorylation”.

Slater to Legge Jack , 17 January 1949, RANH 379 182.

Bush , Science (ref. 9), 19.

Z.W.O. [ Reinink H. J. ], Nederlandse Organisatie voor Zuiver-Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek: Voorbereiding en werkzaamheden in de oprichtingsperiode 1945–1949 ('s-Gravenhage, 1950), 8–9.

Kersten Albert E. , Een organisatie van en voor onderzoekers: De Nederlandse Organisatie voor Zuiver-Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Z.W.O.) 1947–1988 (Assen, 1996), 8–9 and 39–40; cf. van Helvoort Ton , Biochemie tussen nut en cultuur: De ‘triple helix’ van de Nederlandse biowetenschappen (s.l., 2002).

Reinink H. J. , Rapport van de Staatscommissie tot Reorganisatie van het Hoger Onderwijs ('s-Gravenhage, 1949).

Reinink , op. cit. (ref. 90), 246–7.

Woerdeman M. W. , “Minderheidsnota naar aanleiding van het rapport der sectie K (Geneeskunde)”, in: Reinink , op. cit. (ref. 90), 317–22, p. 322.

Reinink , op. cit. (ref. 90), 266.

For a brief outline of the history of UvA up to the Second World War, see Knegtmans Peter Jan , Een kwetsbaar centrum van de geest: De Universiteit van Amsterdam tussen 1935 en 1950 (Amsterdam, 1998), 15–68.

Knegtmans Peter Jan , “Onderwijs, wetenschap en particulier initiatief aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1920–1950”, in: Knegtmans Peter Jan Kox A. J. (eds), Tot nut en eer van de stad: Wetenschappelijk onderzoek aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam (Amsterdam, 2000), 79–105.

Sluiter E. , “De oprichting van het Nederlandsch Instituut voor Volksvoeding en zijn eerste directeur Prof. Dr E. C. van Leersum”, Voeding, xv (1954), 424–7; van der Linden Arie C. Wöstmann B. S. J. , “Het Nederlands Instituut voor Volksvoeding onder zijn tweede directeur Prof. Dr B. C. P. Jansen”, Voeding, xv (1954), 427–37.

Cf. Singleton Rivers Jr , “From bacteriology to biochemistry: Albert Jan Kluyver and Chester Werkman at Iowa State”, Journal of the history of biology, xxxiii (2000), 141–80.

Van Helvoort , Biochemie (ref. 89).

28 April 1948, Folder 55, Box 5, Series 650, RG 1.2, Rockefeller Foundation Archives (RF), Rockefeller Archive Center, North Tarrytown, New York (RAC).

16 January 1952, Folder 55, Box 5, Series 650, RG 1.2, RF.

25 September 1953, Folder 38, Box 4, Series 650, RG 1.2, RF.

2 March 1953, Folder 39, Box 4, Series 650, RG 1.2, RF.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 143–4; on Mendel, see Feldberg W. S. , “Bruno Mendel, 1897–1959”, Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vi (1960), 191–200.

Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 146.

RANH 379 451; see also Knegtmans , Kwetsbaar centrum (ref. 94), 284.

RANH 379 451; see also Slater , Australian biochemist (ref. 24), 148.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 9 January 1955, RANH 379 177.10.

“Documents on the transfer of the Nederlands Instituut voor Volksvoeding from Amsterdam to Wageningen”, RANH 379 128.2.

Slater to Clements F. W. , 6 March 1955, RANH 379 451.

Letter from Slater to “Jim”, 15 October 1955, RANH 379 451.

Slater to Cleland K. W. , 14 November 1955, RANH 379 177.9.

Slater to Keilin D. , 1 July 1955, RANH 379 181.8.

Slater to Keilin D. , 1 July 1955, RANH 379 181.8.

Slater E. C. , Cell physiology and intracellular enzymes — Rede, 28 november 1955 (Amsterdam, 1955), 7.

Slater E. C. , “Introduction”, in: Slater E. C. , Enzymes: Lectures held at the conference on enzymes and their action (Zwolle, 1959), 5–28, pp. 8–9.

See, e.g., Hülsmann W. C. , Beschouwingen over het metabolisme van het hart — Openbare les, 18 december 1962 (Groningen, 1962).

“Minutes of the meetings of the Medical Faculty, 9 May 1966”, RANH 379 34.1–2, FG UvA, February 1966 – October 1966.

Hemker Hendrik C. , Begrijpen versus ingrijpen: De plaats van de kliniek in de biochemie, geïllustreerd aan voorbeelden uit de biochemie van de bloedstolling — Openbare les 6 mei 1969 (Leiden, 1969), 7–8.

Slater to Keilin D. , 16 March 1957, RANH 397 181.8.

Reinink , Rapport (ref. 90), 242.

Anonymous, Z.W.O. en de bevordering van de wetenschappen: Wetenswaardigheden omtrent de Nederlandse Organisatie voor Zuiver-Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (The Hague, 1954), 10–12.

For a history of SON, see Hesselink F. Th. , “Stichting Scheikundig Onderzoek in Nederland 1956–1998”, in: Jaarboek Chemische Wetenschappen 1999 (The Hague, 1999), 19–28; see also Kersten , Organisatie (ref. 89).

26 February 1960, Folder 40, Box 4, Series 650, RG 1.2, RF.

Beukers Harm Gruber M. Matthijsen R. , Nederlandse Vereniging voor Biochemie: De eerste 60 jaar (Utrecht, 1987); Snelders H. A. M. , “Biochemie”, in: Snelders H. A. M. , De geschiedenis van de scheikunde in Nederland — 2: De ontwikkeling van chemie en chemische technologie in de eerste helft van de twintigste eeuw (Delft, 1997), 149–56.

“Faculteit Geneeskunde, November 1968 — March 1969”, RANH 379 38.

Reinink , Rapport (ref. 90), 246–7.

Faculteit Geneeskunde, April 1970 – September 1970, RANH 379 41; see also Knippenberg Hans van der Ham Willem , Een bron van aanhoudende zorg: 75 Jaar Ministerie van Onderwijs (Kunsten) en Wetenschappen, 1918–1993 (Assen, 1993).

See also Greenberg Daniel S. , The politics of pure science (Chicago, IL, 1967/1999); Smith Bruce L. R. , American science policy since World War II (Washington, DC, 1990).

Cf. Kohler Robert E. , Partners in science: Foundations and natural scientists, 1900–1945 (Chicago, 1991).

See also Creager Angela N. H. , “Wendell Stanley's dream of a free-standing Biochemistry Department at the University of California, Berkeley”, Journal of the history of biology, xxix (1996), 331–60, pp. 338–9.

Verkenningscommissie Biochemie [ Slater E. C. chairman], Over Leven: Betekenis van de Biochemie in Nederland; Rapport van de Verkenningscommissie Biochemie ('s-Gravenhage, 1982), 126.

See, e.g., Bok Derek , Beyond the ivory tower: Social responsibilities of the modern university (Cambridge, MA, 1982); Sonnert Gerhard , Ivory bridges: Connecting science and society (Cambridge, MA, 2002).

van Dam Karel Prof. , Universiteit van Amsterdam, personal communication.

de Boer Bas van Dam Karel , Kritiek van de biochemie (Amsterdam, 1971), 18.

NVBMB [Nederlandse Vereniging voor Biochemie en Moleculaire Biologie], Verder met biochemie en moleculaire biologie: Beleid voor een vitale wetenschap (s.l., 2001), 2.

McSherry Corynne , Who owns academic work? Battling for control of intellectual property (Cambridge, MA, 2001), 6.