Raymond Pearl
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{{Infobox Scientist
|name = Raymond Pearl
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|caption = Raymond Pearl
|birth_date = [[3 June]] [[1879]]
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|death_date = [[17 November]] [[1940]]
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|nationality = [[United States|American]]
|ethnicity =
|field = [[biogerontology]]
|work_institutions = [[Johns Hopkins University]]
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'''Raymond Pearl''' ([[3 June]] [[1879]] - [[17 November]] [[1940]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[biologist]], regarded as one of the founders of [[biogerontology]]. He spent most of his career at [[Johns Hopkins University]] in [[Baltimore]].
Pearl was a prolific writer of academic books, papers and articles, as well as a committed populariser and communicator of [[science]]. At his death, 841 publications were listed against his name.
==Background==
Born of upper-middle class parents in [[New England]], Pearl excelled at school and went on to [[Dartmouth College]] where he gained his PhD. In [[1906]] he spent a year studying under [[Karl Pearson]] at [[University College, London]]. During this year he discovered [[biometry]], which seemed to offer a solution to the problems he was concerned with in biology, [[zoology]] and [[eugenics]]. On his return to the US he continued his interests, but was converted from biometry to [[Mendelian genetics]].
==Eugenics and politics==
Pearl maintained a loose interest in eugenics, but in [[1927]] published the landmark article ''The Biology of Superiority'', which attacked the basic assumptions of eugenics. The article was the first general attack on eugenics by someone perceievd as being within the movement. It also contributed to the emergence of reform eugenics and the [[population control]] movement, which Pearl contributed to by founding the [[International Union for the Scientific Study of Population Problems]].
Despite his apparent rejection of eugenics, Pearl maintained relatively good relations with key eugenicists and was never shy of expressing extremely snobbish and class-oriented views. {{Fact|date=October 2007}} He made many statements which have been interpreted as being [[anti-Semitic]].{{Fact|date=October 2007}} On the other hand he worked for Black civil rights groups as an advisor.
==Science==
His scientific interests (including his love of statistics) suggest that had he lived, he would have been at the forefront of [[population genetics]] which was emerging at the time, with the work of [[J. B. S. Haldane]], [[Sewall Wright]] and [[Ronald Fisher]]
In [[1926]] Pearl founded [[The Quarterly Review of Biology]].
Pearl is regarded as one of founders of [[Gerontology#Biogerontology|biogerontology]]. In 1908 Max Rubner observed that mammals of different size and [[longevity]] had equal [[mass]] specific [[metabolism|metabolic]] output<ref>{{cite book | first=Max | last=Rubner | year=1908 | title=Das Problem der Lebensdauer und seine Beziehungen sum Wachstum und Ernahrung | publisher=Oldenbourg | location=Munich, Germany}}</ref>. Partly based on the observation that the longevity of [[Drosophila melanogaster|fruit flies]] varies inversely with ambient temperature<ref>{{cite journal | author=Loeb, Jaques and Northrop,J.H. | title=On the influence of food and temperature upon the duration of life | journal=THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY | volume=32 | issue=1 | year=1917 | pages=103–121 |url=http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/32/1/103 }}</ref>, Pearl (like Rubner) also asserted that [[maximum life span]] is inversely proportional to [[basal metabolic rate]]. Pearl accepted [[Alexis Carrel]]'s erroneous ideas that normal [[somatic cell]]s don't age, and that aging must therefore be due to dysfunction at the body level. Pearl speculated that lifespan was limited by vital cell components that were depleted or damaged more rapidly in animals with faster metabolisms<ref>{{cite book | first=Raymond | last=Pearl | year=1928 | title=The Rate of Living, Being an Account of Some Experimental Studies on the Biology of Life Duration | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | location=New York}}</ref>. [[Denham Harman]]'s [[free-radical theory|free-radical theory of aging]] later provided a plausible causal mechanism for Pearl's hypothesis.
The ''Rate of Living Hypothesis'' enjoyed prominence as one of the foremost [[Senescence#Theories_of_aging|theories of aging]] for nearly 50 years. The ''Rate of Living Hypothesis'' is undermined by the observation that a [[rat]] and a [[bat]] have similar metabolic rate, but a bat lives several times longer<ref>{{cite journal | author=Brunet-Rossinni AK, Austad SN | title=Ageing studies on bats: a review | journal=BIOGERONTOLOGY | volume=5 | issue=4 | year=2004 | pages=211–222 | pmid=15314271 | doi=10.1023/B:BGEN.0000038022.65024.d8 }}</ref>. (For a critique of the ''Rate of Living Hypothesis'' see ''Living fast, dying when?'' <ref>{{cite journal | author=Speakman JR, Selman C, McLaren JS, Harper EJ | title=Living fast, dying when? The link between aging and energetics | journal=THE JOURNAL OF NUTRITION | volume=132 | issue=6, Supplement 2 | year=2002 | pages=1583S–1597S | url=http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/132/6/1583S | pmid=12042467 }}</ref>.)
==Social habits and death==
Pearl was widely known for his lust for life and his love of food, drink, music and parties.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} He was a key member of the [[Saturday Night Club]] which also included [[H. L. Mencken]]. [[Prohibition]] made no dent in Pearl's drinking habits (which were legendary){{Fact|date=October 2007}}. In 1926, his book, ''Alcohol and Longevity''<ref>{{cite book | first=Raymond | last=Pearl | year=1926 | title=Alcohol and Longevity | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | location=New York}}</ref>, demonstrated that drinking [[alcohol]] in [[alcohol consumption and health|moderation]] is associated with greater longevity than either abstaining or drinking heavily. In 1938, his data and work demonstrated the negative health effects of [[Tobacco smoking|smoking tobacco]].
In November [[1940]] Pearl was in apparently good health and paid a visit to the [[Baltimore Zoo]]. He cut his trip short complaining of chest pains and died later that day.
== See also ==
* [[Maximum life span]]
* [[Senescence]] (aging theories)
* [[Life extension]]
==References==
<references/>
*{{Citation
|id = [[PMID]]:12454050
|url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12454050
|last=Goldman
|first=I L
|publication-date=2002 Nov
|year=[[2002]]
|title=Raymond Pearl, smoking and longevity
|volume=162
|issue=3
|periodical=[[Genetics (journal)|Genetics]]
|pages=997–1001
}}
*{{Citation
|id = [[PMID]]:6378756
|url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6378756
|last=Kingsland
|first=S
|publication-date=1984 Feb
|year=[[1984]]
|title=Raymond Pearl: on the frontier in the 1920's. Raymond Pearl memorial lecture, 1983
|volume=56
|issue=1
|periodical=Hum. Biol.
|pages=1–18
}}
*{{Citation
|id = [[PMID]]:11630390
|url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11630390
|last=Lloyd
|first=P J
|publication-date=1967
|year=[[1967]]
|title=American German and British antecedents to Pearl and Reed's logistic curve
|volume=21
|issue=
|periodical=Population studies
|pages=99–109
}}
*{{Citation
|id = [[PMID]]:13609920
|url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13609920
|last=ALVAREZ
|first=W C
|publication-date=1959 Jan
|year=[[1959]]
|title=Raymond Pearl, student of longevity; 1879-1946
|volume=14
|issue=1
|periodical=Geriatrics
|pages=56–8
}}
==External links==
*[http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/guides/glass/pearl.htm American Philosophical Society Raymond Pearl Papers]
*[http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/162/3/997 Raymond Pearl, Smoking and Longevity]
[[Category:1879 births|Pearl, Raymond]]
[[Category:1940 deaths|Pearl, Raymond]]
[[Category:Biogerontologists|Pearl, Raymond]]
[[Category:American biologists|Pearl, Raymond]]
[[Category:Researchers in alcohol abuse]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Statistical Association]]
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