Dal prof inducted into Science Hall of Fame

Developmental biologist Brian Hall honoured for work on cells

We use microscopes to better see how things are. But Brian Hall has made a career out of using them to see the past.

Hall is an evolutionary developmental biologist and professor emeritus at Dalhousie University. He joined Dalhousie's faculty in 1968 and has led studies about how body structures change with evolution.

He will be introduced into Nova Scotia's Discovery Centre Science Hall of Fame in a ceremony Nov. 26.

His research focuses on the development of neural crest cells, a group of embryonic cells that form in the developing nervous system and then migrate to form bones, cartilage and teeth in the head. His research has been crucial to evolutionary science and to the understanding of developmental conditions such as cleft palate.

"Brian Hall is a giant in the field of evolutionary biology and we are fortunate that he choose Nova Scotia as home base for his impressive research. It also shows that evolutionary biology is alive and well exactly 150 years after Darwin wrote his famous book On the Origin of Species," said Gerhard Stroink, committee member and chair of the Hall of Fame committee.


"Hall's work connects this distant past with skeleton abnormalities observed today in both animals and humans and exemplifies the top-notch, world renowned research happening in Nova Scotia,¨ he added.

Hall is fascinated by neural crest and neural cells as well as the synthesis of evolution and development, and when it comes to that subject, he literally wrote the book. Evolutionary Developmental Biology was the first textbook ever written in this field. His literary production rises to the count of 16 books and more than 250 scientific articles.

Although Hall has conducted his research mostly in Nova Scotia, his rhythmic accent reveals a man born and educated in Australia.

¨I have spent my career with Dalhousie University but spent sabbatical leaves in London, Southampton, Brisbane, Perth, Guelph,¨ said Hall in an e-mail message from Arizona, where he is working.

The numerous awards he has received include the Kowalevsky Medal, honoring the eight most influential evolutionary biologists in the 20th century. Previous recipients included Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur.

One may think he is already used to receiving honours, but when he first knew about his induction into the Science Hall of Fame, he was surprised.

¨I was unaware that I was being considered. It is a wonderful honour. I was delighted to see that (Oswald) Avery was being inducted posthumously. Avery discovered the chemical nature of DNA and so it is wonderful to be linked with such a major discovery,¨ said Hall.

Hall has recently retired from Dalhousie because of compulsory retirement but currently has an association with Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

 

 

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