Creativity—Genetic and Psychosocial

PERSPECTIVES IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE Volume il · Number 3 · Spring 1968 CREATIVITY—GENETIC AND PSYCHOSOCIAL HUDSON HOAGLAND* In Memoriam\ It has been my good fortune to have known Gregory Goodwin Pincus—Goody to his friends—since 1924. We first met as graduate students at Harvard, working toward our doctorates in the Department ofGeneral Physiology. From the beginning, we found each other entertaining and good company, but in time our rather casual friendship ripened into a deep and abiding regard. Socrates said, "Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you do, continue firm and constant"—and this has indeed been the course of our relationship over the past forty-three years. Goody and I have been closely associated professionally since 1938 when hejoined me at Clark University, and together in 1944 we established and became co-directors of the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology. The world is fortunate in that from time to time it produces creative men ofgenius, and Gregory Pincus was such a man. As you know, he has been internationally known as an eminent scientist, and he was awarded many distinguished medals and honors in the United States, in Latin America, and in Europe for his achievements. But only those of us who worked closely with him could knowhis flashes ofimaginative insight in attacking tough scientific problems, and his patient, disciplined pursuit of truth, his meticulous self-criticism, and his prodigious output of brilliant research in fields as diverse as basic endocrinology, cancer, cardiovascular problems, human aging, and, especially, the physiology ofreproduction. Goody was not only one ofthe truly great scientists ofour generation, but he was also a great human being. He was a devoted husband and father and was loved and respected by friends and colleagues all over the world. He was much concerned with the fate ofhis fellow man. His highly important development ofa pill, the first ofits kind, to control human fertility in a world rushing on to pathological overpopulation is an example of practical humanism at its very best. Gregory Pincus was not a man of parochial views. Scientific knowledge to him was * The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts 01545. t Eulogy delivered at the funeral. 339 the birthright ofall mankind, to be fully shared, not merely with his fellow Americans but with all humanity. From the earliest beginnings of the Worcester Foundation, he labored to make it possible for foreign scientists to work and learn in its laboratories and for foreign students to acquire the knowledge and skills that would permit them to return to their homelands and train others. It was his great pleasure especially to train men and women from the industrially underdeveloped countries and thus to export—in their brains, as it were—the possibility of raising the level of well-being in their emerging lands. Even when the illness that was to end his life had been diagnosed, Dr. Pincus gladly accepted calls tojourney abroad, often in pain, to lecture and consult with health workers in Europe, India, Latin America, and the Soviet Union. The hundreds ofmen and women who worked with him over the years are not only better scientists because ofhis tutelage, but better, broader-minded, more tolerant, and more understanding people. Though his discoveries offered him opportunities for great financial gain, he left no fortune. Instead, he bequeaths to all mankind a heritage ofgreat and useful discoveries. Gregory Pincus will be greatly missed, not only by his familyand those ofus who were his close friends, but by employees at the Foundation, his many other friends, and by his colleagues in the world-wide fraternity of scientists. His contribution to the advancement of biomedical science is his monument. The Worcester Foundation is a living symbol of this work, and his numerous scientific publicationshave influenced, and will continue to influence, the lives and careers ofcountless numbers ofpeople everywhere. He now belongs to the ages, but the impact ofhis life and work will endure long after him. Gregory Goodwin Pincus—Goody to his friends—and I were graduate students together at Harvard. We received our doctorates in 1927, and we both became instructors in the Department ofGeneral Physiology, with intermissions for fellowships abroad. In 1931 I...