Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Adjunct Professor of History and Philosophy of Science
Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis, 1949

Phone: 812/855- 9612
Fax: 812/855-6705
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Howard Gest is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Adjunct Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University, Bloomington.   He received the Bachelor of Arts degree in bacteriology from the University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) in 1942, and his Ph.D. degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1949.  

Professor Gest was born in London, England and emigrated with his family to America when he was one year old. During his undergraduate studies at UCLA, he spent two summers (1941, 1942) assisting Max Delbruck and Salvador Luria doing research on bacterial viruses at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (New York). Gest then began graduate work with Delbruck at Vanderbilt University, but World War II interrupted his studies. At that point he accepted a position to work on the Manhattan (Atomic Bomb) Project with the eminent physical chemist Charles Coryell at the University of Chicago, and later at Oak Ridge (TN). Coryell, who had interests in biochemistry, had been one of Gest's instructors at UCLA.

While still a graduate student at Washington University, Gest initiated research with Alfred Hershey using the radioactive isotope P-32 to investigate the fate of phosphorus during the multiplication of bacterial viruses (bacteriophage).This research culminated in discovery of P-32 "suicide" of bacteriophage (A.D. HERSHEY, M.D. KAMEN, J.W. KENNEDY, and H. GEST: The mortality of bacteriophage containing assimilated radioactive phosphorus, Journal of General Physiology, 34, pp. 305-319, 1951; see also, GEST, H: Photosynthesis and phage: early studies on phosphorus metabolism in photosynthetic microorganisms with P-32, and how they led to the serendipic discovery of P-32 decay "suicide" of bacteriophage, Photosynthesis Research, 74, pp. 331-339, 2002). Prior to 1950, Gest had worked with Delbruck, Luria and Hershey, who shared the 1969 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

During World War II, as a chemist on the Manhattan (Atomic Bomb) Project, he did basic research on the radioactive elements formed in uranium fission.   Some of his experiences on the Manhattan Project were described (Feb. 2001) in H. GEST:   The July 1945 Szilard Petition on the Atomic Bomb; Memoir by a Signer in Oak Ridge.  He has been on the faculties of Case Western Reserve University, Washington University, and Indiana University and has been a visiting researcher at the California Institute of Technology, Dartmouth Medical School, Stanford University, Oxford University, Tokyo University, and U.C.L.A.   Professor Gest has twice been named a Guggenheim Fellow and has served on a number of advisory committees of the United States government.   During his second Guggenheim Fellowship, he studied problems of biochemical evolution as a member of the Precambrian Paleobiology Group.   He is widely recognized for his research on microbial physiology and metabolism, especially with photosynthetic bacteria.   Professor Gest is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Microbiology, American Academy of Microbiology, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

H. GEST and M.D. KAMEN:   Photoproduction of molecular hydrogen by Rhodospirillum rubrum , Science, 109 , 558-559 (1949).

H. GEST, M.D. KAMEN, and H.M. BREGOFF:   Studies on the metabolism of photosynthetic bacteria.   V. Photoproduction of hydrogen and nitrogen fixation by Rhodospirillum rubrum , Journal of Biological Chemistry, 182 , 153-170, 1950.

A.D. HERSHEY, M.D. KAMEN, J.W. KENNEDY, and H. GEST:   The mortality of bacteriophage containing assimilated radioactive phosphorus, Journal of General Physiology, 34 , 305-319, 1951.

H. GEST, R.R. EDWARDS, and T.H. DAVIES:   Chemical effects of nuclear transformations.   I.   β decay of lanthanum to cerium of mass 143.   In Radiochemical Studies:   The Fission Products , National Nuclear Energy Series, vol IV-9, pp. 232-236. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1951.

H. GEST and R.R. EDWARDS:   Discovery of 19 m La 143 , ibid . pp. 1144-1146, 1951.

H. GEST and L.E. GLENDENIN:   Half-life and radiations of Se 75 , ibid , pp. 1924-1930, 1951.

A.L. TUTTLE and H. GEST:   Subcellular particulate systems and the photochemical apparatus of Rhodospirillum rubrum , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), 45 , 1261-1269, 1959.

S.K. BOSE and H. GEST:   Bacterial photophosphorylation:   Regulation by redox balance, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), 49 , 337-345, 1963.

P. DATTA and H. GEST:   Control of enzyme activity by concerted feedback inhibition, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), 52 , 1004-1009, 1964.

P. DATTA and H. GEST:   Alternative patterns of end-product control in biosynthesis of amino-acids of the aspartic family, Nature, 203 , 1259-1261, 1964.

H. GEST:   Comparative biochemistry of photosynthetic processes, Nature, 209 , 879-882, 1966.

G.A. SOJKA and H. GEST:   Integration of energy conversion and biosynthesis in the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas capsulata , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), 61 , 1486-1493, 1968.

L.S. SCHMIDT, H. YEN, and H. GEST:   Bioenergetic aspects of bacteriophage replication in the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas capsulata , Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 165 , 229-239, 1974.

H. GEST:   The evolution of biological energy-transducing systems, FEMS Microbiology Letters, 7 , 73-77, 1980.

H. GEST and J.L. FAVINGER:   Heliobacterium chlorum , an anoxygenic brownish-green photosynthetic bacterium containing a new form of bacteriochlorophyll, Archives of Microbiology, 136 , 11-16, 1983.

P. BEER-ROMERO and H. GEST:   Heliobacillus mobilis , a peritrichously flagellated anoxyphototroph containing bacteriochlorophyll g, FEMS Microbiology Letters, 41 , 109-114, 1987.

J. FAVINGER, R. STADTWALD, and H. GEST:   Rhodospirillum centenum , sp. nov., a thermotolerant cyst-forming anoxgenic photosynthetic bacterium, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Journal of Microbiology, 55 , 291-296, 1989.

H. GEST:   Dr. Martin Arrowsmith:   Scientist and medical hero, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 35 , 116-124, 1991.

L. RAGATZ, Z-Y. JIANG, C. BAUER, and H. GEST:   Phototactic purple bacteria.   Nature, 370 , 104 (1994).

H. GEST:   A microbiologist's odyssey:   Bacterial viruses to photosynthetic bacteria.   Photosynthesis Research, 40 . 129-146 (1994).

H. GEST:   Discovery of the heliobacteria.   Photosynthesis Research, 41 , 17-21 (1994).

Z-Y JIANG, H. GEST, and C.E. BAUER:   Chemosensory and photosensory perception in purple photosynthetic bacteria utilize common signal transduction components; Journal of Bacteriology, 179 , 5720-5727 (1997).

H. GEST:   Serendipity in scientific discovery: a closer look.   Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 41 , 21-28 (1997).

H. GEST:   Landmark discoveries in the trail from chemistry to cellular biochemistry; with particular reference to mileposts in research on bioenergetics.   Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 30 , 9-13 (2002).

H. GEST:   Photosynthesis and phage: early studies on phosphorus metabolism in photosynthetic microorganisms with 32 P, and how they led to the serendipic discovery of 32 P-decay "suicide" of bacteriophage.   Photosynthesis Research, 74 , 331-339 (2002).

H. GEST:   MICROBES:   An Invisible Universe, American Society for Microbiology Press, 2003.

H. GEST and R.E. BLANKENSHIP: Timeline of discoveries: anoxygenic photosynthesis. Photosynthesis Research, Historical Highlights of Photosythesis Research, Part 3, vol. 80(1-3), 59-70 (2004).

H. GEST:   The discovery of the microbial universe by Robert Hooke and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Fellows of the Royal Society, London. Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 58, 187-201 (2004).

H. GEST: The early history of P-32 as a redioactive tracer in biochemical research. Biochem. & Molec. Biol Education 33, 159-164 (2005).

Professor Gest is one of four editors of Discoveries in Photosynthesis, ca. 1210 pages, published by Springer in February 2006. He is also an author or coauthor of five papers in the volume. Gest has had long-term interests in the origins of life, biochemical evolution, and paleomicrobiology. These are noted in H. GEST: Microbes in the search for extraterrestrial life, American Society for Microbiology News, Dec. 2005 (vol. 71) pp. 560-561. A sequel to the latter, entitled The "astrobiology" fantasy of NASA (The terms "astrobiology" is an oxymoron that has become a buzzword in the Age of Space Hype.) can be viewed at www.bio.indiana.edu/~gest/astrobiology.html or downloaded as a pdf.

H. GEST: The "astrobiology" fantasy of NASA. http://www.bio.indiana.edu/~gest/astrobiology.pdf (2006).

H.GEST: The 2006 astrobiology follies: Return of the phantom Martian microbes. http://www/ bio.indiana.edu/~gest/

H. GEST: Phantom Microbes in the "Astrobiology" Fantasy. Microbe, April 2006; vol. 1, No. 4, p.160.

H. GEST: Phantom Life on Mars: Microbes and "Super-Bees." Microbe, October 2006; vol. 1, No.10, p.449.

H. GEST: Associations with distinguished scientists during an academic career of over 60 years. Memorabilia include various research papers, books, correspondence, photographs and obituaries. Special Collection, Lilly Library, Indiana University (Bloomington), October 2006. https://scholarworks.i.u.edu/dspace/bitstream/2022/1083/1/Gestfinal.pdf

H. GEST and J. FAVINGER: Identity of Rhodospirillum centenum, a unique photosynthetic bacterium. http://www.bio.indiana.edu/~gest/centenum.pdf [2007]

H. GEST and J. FAVINGER: Rhodospirillum centenum Survives a Taxonomic Misnomer. Microbe, April 2007; vol. 2, No. 4, p. 165.

H.GEST: How the microbial world was discovered in the 17th century by Robert Hooke and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. Microbe, in press. [2007]