William C. Summers
Professor of Therapeutic Radiology, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and
History of Science and Medicine at Yale University.
Education/Experience: Janesville (Wisconsin) High School, University of Wisconsin,
Madison; BS (Math); MS (Radiobiology), MD, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison.,
MIT; NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Biophysics, Yale University, Faculty.
Office: 332 BASS; Mailing address: PO Box 208114, New Haven, CT 06520-8114
Fax: 203-432-5175; email: william.summers@yale.edu
Courses I am teaching during 2007-2008 (click on course number to see course
description and syllabus)
Other courses I have taught recently:
Recent selected publications:
- SUMMERS, W.C. 1999. Félix d'Herelle and the Origins of Molecular Biology. Yale University Press.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 1999. The Chinese Nail Murders: Forensic Medicine in Imperial China. Yale J. Biol. Med. 72: 409-419.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2000. History of Microbiology. In: Lederberg, et al. Eds. Encyclopedia of Microbiology, Second Edition. New York: Academic
Press. 2:677- 697.
- LEDERBERG, J., ALEXANDER, M., BLOOM, B., HOPWOOD, D. HULL, R., IGLWESKI, B.H., LASKIN, A.I., OLIVER, S.G.,
SCHAECHTER, M., AND SUMMERS, W.C., eds. 2000. Encyclopedia of Microbiology, Second Edition. San Diego: Academic Press. Four volumes
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2000. History of Molecular Biology. In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. London: Macmillan.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2001. Bacteriophage Therapy. Ann. Rev. Microbiol. 55:437- 451
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2002. A Historical Introduction. In: Lewis, K., Salyers, A.A., Taber, H.W., and Wax, R.G (eds) Bacterial Resistance to
Antimicrobials: Mechanisms, Genetics, Medical Practice, and Public Health. New York: Marcel Dekker xvii-xxiii.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2002. Molecular Biophysics and Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. In: Altman, S., Ed. Science at Yale. New Haven: Yale
University. pp. 199- 204.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2002. Manchurian Plague: medicine and politics, East and West. Harvard Asia-Pacific Review, 6(2):10- 13.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2003. 50 Years To Write the Book of Life -- Now We Can Start to Read the Text, The Times Higher Educational Supplement,
Feb. 7, 2003.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2003. From Enzyme Adaptation to Gene Regulation. Advances in Applied Microbiology, 52:159-166.
- SCHOOLNIK, G.R., SUMMERS, W.C. and WATSON, J.D. 2004. Phage offer a real alternative. Nature Biotechnol. 22:505-506.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2005. Bacteriophage Research: Early History. Chapter 2 in Bacteriophages: Biology and Applications, E. Kutter, A. Sulakvelidze,
eds. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla. pp. 5-27.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2005. Microbiologia. In: Storia della Scienza, Volume 7. Instituto della Enciclopedia Intaliana; Rome.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2005. Storia della biologia cellualare. In: Storia della Scienza, Volume 7. Instituto della Enciclopedia Intaliana; Rome.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2006. Phage and the early development of molecular biology. In: Calendar, R., ed. The Bacteriophages. New York: Oxford Univ.
Press.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2006. Introduction to bacteriophages, history of phage research and phage therapy. In: Bacteriophages and Bacterial Pathogens,
M. Waldor, D. Friedman, and S. Adhya, eds. ASM Press.
- SUMMERS, W.C., ed. 2006. F.L. Holmes. Reconceiving the gene: Seymour Benzer's adventures in phage genetics. Yale Univ. Press.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2007. Bacteriophage T7. In: Acheson, N., Ed. Fundamentals of Molecular Virology, New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
- SUMMERS, W.C. 2007. Antibiotic Resistance: A Historical Introduction. In: Lewis, K., Salyers, A.A., Taber, H.W., and Wax, R.G (eds) Bacterial
Resistance to Antimicrobials: Mechanisms, Genetics, Medical Practice, and Public Health, Second Ed.. New York: Marcel Dekker in press.
- SCHAECHTER, M., SUMMERS, W.C., ET AL. eds. 2009. Encyclopedia of Microbiology, Thrid Edition. New York and London: Elsevier. Four
volumes, [in preparation].
Research Projects:
- History of molecular biology:
The early history of molecular biology is embedded in the work of physicists who applied concepts from physics to biological systems. One major
aspect of this early work was the development of the target theory. The detailed history of the origins of the target theory has been reconstructed from
the published literature and from archival material. The next phase of this project will examine the formation and influences of the American Phage
Group. This material will form some of the background against which the larger history of molecular biology will be placed.
Beginning in October 1910, a major epidemic of pneumonic plague swept through Manchuria and by the spring of 1911 had killed between
45,000-60,000 people. The plague and its aftermath were to play an important role in the geopolitical events leading up to the Japanese takeover of
Manchuria and complex causes of World War II. The concentrated force of this epidemic, its near 100 percent mortality rate, and its occurrence in a
region of international competition and diplomatic struggle all contributed to the importance and interest in the Manchurian plague. The
"Manchurian Question" was of immense interest in the United States: America had just enjoyed its first taste of successful international leadership
upon Roosevelt's brokering the peace treaty of 1905 that ended the Russo-Japanese war over territorial rights in Manchuria. Russia, on the other
hand was intent on retaining what she could of her centuries-old foothold in east Asia. Japan, modernizing after the Meiji restoration in 1868, was
experiencing international ambitions and expansionism in Korea and Manchuria, in its own version of "manifest destiny." China, under the yoke of
war reparations owed to both the Western Powers and to Japan as the result of the ill- fated Boxer Rebellion in 1895, was struggling with its first
efforts at modernization while still governed by the decaying, and increasingly ineffective Qing dynasty. This project aims to elucidate the multiple
uses which was made of the plague to exhibit the importance of epidemic disease in geopolitics.
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This page last updated: 3 Oct 2007