James D. Ebert
Johns Hopkins University
December 11, 1921 - May 22, 2001
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Scientific Discipline: Cellular and Developmental Biology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1967)
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The work of James D. Ebert profoundly influenced our understanding of cellular development from the early embryonic stages to senescence. He researched several areas of developmental biology, including cell differentiation, protein synthesis and interaction during development, cardiac development, and the new field of immunoembryology. Ebert was best known for his studies on the cellular and molecular basis of heart development in embryos and on the mechanisms of the development of the body’s natural immunity. He used viruses to probe the development of cell specificity, a study that contributed to the modern understanding of the relation of viruses to tumor formation, as well as viral effects on the regulation of molecular DNA synthesis. Under Ebert’s direction, the Department of Embryology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington became a leading center of research and training in cellular and molecular approaches to developmental biology.
Ebert received his AB degree from Washington and Jefferson College in 1942 and his PhD in experimental embryology from Johns Hopkins University in 1950. He was an instructor in biology for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a year before becoming an assistant professor of zoology at Indiana University in 1951. He left Indiana as an associate professor in 1955 to accept a position as the director of the Department of Embryology (he was the youngest ever to hold the title) at the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW), where he would remain for the rest of his career. From 1970 to 1978, Ebert served as director and president of the Marine Biological Laboratory. In 1978, he was appointed the president of CIW and held the title until 1987. From 1956 to 1978, he was also the Professor of Embryology and the Professor of Biology at Johns Hopkins University. He held high offices for several scientific societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science (vice president and chairman of the medical sciences section in 1964), the Society for the Study of Development and Growth (president from 1957-1958), the American Institute of Biological Sciences (president in 1963), and the American Society of Zoologists (president in 1970). Ebert was the recipient ofthe First Distinguished Service Award from Washington and Jefferson College in 1965 and the President’s Medal from the American Institute of Biological Science in 1972.
