Vincent Dethier
Encyclopedia
Vincent Gaston Dethier was an American physiologist and entomologist. Considered a leading expert in his field, he was a pioneer in the study of insect-plant interactions and wrote over 170 academic papers and 15 science books. From 1975 until his death, he was the Gilbert L. Woodside Professor of Zoology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
where he was the founding director of its Neuroscience and Behavior Program and chaired the Chancellor's Commission on Civility. Dethier also wrote natural history books for non-specialists, as well as short stories, essays and children's books.
public school system and the organist and choirmaster of St. Catherine's Church in Norwood. Vincent Dethier's uncles were noted musicians — Edouard Dethier
was a violinist and Gaston Dethier
was an organist and composer. Both taught at the Juilliard School
for many years. Although Vincent Dethier was the first of his father's family to become a scientist, he retained a lifelong interest in Baroque music
and played in a recorder
quartet during his years at the University of Massachusetts.
In his 1989 autobiographical essay "Curiosity, Milieu and Era", Dethier attributed his interest in insects, which would become a central aspect of his research career, to a childhood encounter with a butterfly in a neighborhood park known as "the oval":
Dethier received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University
and went on to obtain his PhD there in 1939. His research in the 1930s was on the feeding habits of swallowtail butterfly
caterpillars. He became the first to prove that food is selected by caterpillars not by a plant's nutritional value but by its taste and smell. His first post-doctoral position was as a biology instructor at John Carroll University
in Cleveland, Ohio
where he taught from 1939 to 1941. With the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Army Air Corps
, serving part of his time in Africa and Middle East. He wrote his first book, Chemical Insect Attractants and Repellents, in the bomb bay of a B-25 on what he called a "liberated" Italian typewriter. He then worked in the Army Chemical Corps as a research physiologist until 1946. Towards the end of his time in the Army he worked with Leigh Edward Chadwick at the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland (now the Aberdeen Proving Ground
) in a long series of experiments analyzing the effects of chemicals on the chemosensor
s of flies.
After the war ended, Dethier taught briefly at Ohio State University
before taking a teaching post at Johns Hopkins University
where he taught from 1947 to 1958. He was a professor of zoology and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania
from 1958 to 1967 and then went to Princeton University
, where for the next nine years he held the Class of 1877 Chair as Professor of Biology. In 1975, he returned to his native Massachusetts for his last appointment, the Gilbert L. Woodside Professor of Zoology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
. There he became the founding director of the Neuroscience and Behavior Program and chaired the Chancellor's Commission on Civility, publishing A University in Search of Civility in 1984.
Vincent Dethier was an active scientist and teacher until his death at the age of 78. On 8 September 1993, he had an apparent heart attack while teaching at the University of Massachusetts. He died later that day at the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts
, survived by his wife Lois (Crow) Dethier and their two sons, Jehan Vincent Dethier and Paul Georges Dethier.
After his death the University of Massachusetts established the Vincent G. Dethier Award for "the faculty member who best exemplifies the ideals to which Dethier aspired."
(1960), United States National Academy of Sciences
(1965), and the American Philosophical Society
(1980). He was also a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and the recipient of the Entomological Society of America
's 1967 Founders' Memorial Award. In 1993 he received the John Burroughs Medal
for distinguished nature writing.
Books
Papers
Natural history
Children's books
Humor
Philosophical essays
Short stories
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
where he was the founding director of its Neuroscience and Behavior Program and chaired the Chancellor's Commission on Civility. Dethier also wrote natural history books for non-specialists, as well as short stories, essays and children's books.
Biography
Vincent Dethier was born on 20 February 1915 in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the four children of Jean Vincent and Marguerite (Lally) Dethier. Before her marriage, his mother, who was of Irish extraction, was a school teacher in Boston. His Belgian-born father was a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Liège who emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. He was organist of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston and later became Director of Music for the Norwood, MassachusettsNorwood, Massachusetts
Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,602. The community was named after Norwood, England...
public school system and the organist and choirmaster of St. Catherine's Church in Norwood. Vincent Dethier's uncles were noted musicians — Edouard Dethier
Edouard Dethier
Edouard Charles Louis Dethier was a Belgian classical violinist and teacher of the violin. He was a soloist with the New York Philharmonic and New York Symphony orchestras as well as extensively touring the United States and Canada as a recitalist. From 1906, he also taught violin at the Juilliard...
was a violinist and Gaston Dethier
Gaston Dethier
Gaston Marie Dethier was an American organist, pianist, and composer of Belgian birth. Born in Liège, he was the son of organist Emile Dethier, the brother of violinist Edouard Dethier, and the uncle of physiologist Vincent Dethier. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in his native city with...
was an organist and composer. Both taught at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
for many years. Although Vincent Dethier was the first of his father's family to become a scientist, he retained a lifelong interest in Baroque music
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
and played in a recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
quartet during his years at the University of Massachusetts.
In his 1989 autobiographical essay "Curiosity, Milieu and Era", Dethier attributed his interest in insects, which would become a central aspect of his research career, to a childhood encounter with a butterfly in a neighborhood park known as "the oval":
I had wandered up to the oval late one hot, humid, summer day. The long, slanting rays of the sun illuminated my white shirt. Suddenly, something rocketed across the street, made a few zigzags, and landed on my shirt, just above the pocket. I stood stock-still and slowly lowered my head to see what it was. There with its wings slowly expanding clung a brown butterfly with a red band extending down each wing. This red admiral was the first live butterfly I had ever seen at close range, and I was fascinated.
Dethier received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and went on to obtain his PhD there in 1939. His research in the 1930s was on the feeding habits of swallowtail butterfly
Swallowtail butterfly
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies that form the family Papilionidae. There are over 550 species, and though the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica...
caterpillars. He became the first to prove that food is selected by caterpillars not by a plant's nutritional value but by its taste and smell. His first post-doctoral position was as a biology instructor at John Carroll University
John Carroll University
John Carroll University is a private, co-educational Jesuit Catholic university in University Heights, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland. The university was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesus as Saint Ignatius College.The university was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesus, as...
in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
where he taught from 1939 to 1941. With the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
, serving part of his time in Africa and Middle East. He wrote his first book, Chemical Insect Attractants and Repellents, in the bomb bay of a B-25 on what he called a "liberated" Italian typewriter. He then worked in the Army Chemical Corps as a research physiologist until 1946. Towards the end of his time in the Army he worked with Leigh Edward Chadwick at the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland (now the Aberdeen Proving Ground
Aberdeen Proving Ground
Aberdeen Proving Ground is a United States Army facility located near Aberdeen, Maryland, . Part of the facility is a census-designated place , which had a population of 3,116 at the 2000 census.- History :...
) in a long series of experiments analyzing the effects of chemicals on the chemosensor
Chemosensor
A chemoreceptor, also known as chemosensor, is a sensory receptor that transduces a chemical signal into an action potential. In more general terms, a chemosensor detects certain chemical stimuli in the environment.- Classes :...
s of flies.
After the war ended, Dethier taught briefly at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
before taking a teaching post at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
where he taught from 1947 to 1958. He was a professor of zoology and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
from 1958 to 1967 and then went to Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, where for the next nine years he held the Class of 1877 Chair as Professor of Biology. In 1975, he returned to his native Massachusetts for his last appointment, the Gilbert L. Woodside Professor of Zoology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
. There he became the founding director of the Neuroscience and Behavior Program and chaired the Chancellor's Commission on Civility, publishing A University in Search of Civility in 1984.
Vincent Dethier was an active scientist and teacher until his death at the age of 78. On 8 September 1993, he had an apparent heart attack while teaching at the University of Massachusetts. He died later that day at the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
, survived by his wife Lois (Crow) Dethier and their two sons, Jehan Vincent Dethier and Paul Georges Dethier.
After his death the University of Massachusetts established the Vincent G. Dethier Award for "the faculty member who best exemplifies the ideals to which Dethier aspired."
Honors
Among the honors accorded to Vincent Dethier were election to the American Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(1960), United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
(1965), and the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
(1980). He was also a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and the recipient of the Entomological Society of America
Entomological Society of America
The Entomological Society of America was founded in 1889 and today has more than 6,000 members, including educators, extension personnel, consultants, students, researchers, and scientists from agricultural departments, health agencies, private industries, colleges and universities, and state and...
's 1967 Founders' Memorial Award. In 1993 he received the John Burroughs Medal
John Burroughs Medal
The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs , is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural history....
for distinguished nature writing.
Academic publications
Vincent Dethier wrote over 170 scholarly papers and authored or co-authored several academic books. These include:Books
- Vincent Dethier (1947) Chemical Insect Attractants and Repellents, Blakiston Press (8 editions published between 1947 and 1972)
- Vincent Dethier (1963) The physiology of insect senses, Methuen
- Vincent Dethier and Eliot Stellar (1961) Animal behavior: its evolutionary and neurological basis, Prentice-Hall (12 editions published between 1961 and 1970)
- Claude Alvin Villee and Vincent Dethier (1971) Biological principles and processes, Saunders
- Vincent Dethier (1976) Man's plague?: Insects and agriculture, Darwin Press
Papers
- Vincent Dethier (1937) "Gustation and olfaction in lepidopterous larvae", Biology Bulletin, 72:7-23
- Vincent Dethier and L. E. Chadwick (1947) "Rejection thresholds of the blowfly for a series of aliphatic alcohols", Journal of General Physiology, 30:247-253
- Vincent Dethier (1951) "The limiting mechanism in tarsal chemoreception", Journal of General Physiology, 35:55-65.
- Vincent Dethier (1954) "Evolution of feeding preferences in phytophagous insects", EvolutionEvolution (journal)Evolution, the International Journal of Organic Evolution, is a leading monthly scientific journal that publishes significant new results of empirical or theoretical investigations concerning facts, processes, mechanics, or concepts of evolutionary phenomena and events. Evolution is published by...
, 8:33-54 - Vincent Dethier (1957) "Communication by insects: physiology of dancing", ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
, 125:331-336. - Vincent Dethier and R. H. MacArthur (1964) "A field's capacity to support a butterfly population", NatureNature (journal)Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
201:729 - Vincent Dethier (1964) "Microscopic Brains" Science, 143:1138-1145
- Vincent Dethier (1973) "Electrophysiological studies of gustation in lepidopterous larvae II: Taste spectra in relation to food-plant discrimination", Journal of General Physiology, 82:103-134
- Vincent Dethier (1980) "Food-aversion learning in two polyphagous caterpillars, Diacrisia virginica and Estigmene congrua", Physiological Entomology 5:321-325
- Vincent Dethier (1993) "Food-finding by polyphagous arctiid caterpillars lacking antennal and maxillary chemoreceptors", Canadian EntomologistCanadian EntomologistThe Canadian Entomologist is a scientific journal of the Entomological Society of Canada, published bimonthly. It has been published continuously since 1868. Volumes 1 to 54 are freely accessible in the Biodiversity Heritage Library.-External links:**...
125(1):85-92.
Other publications
In addition to his academic publications, Vincent Dethier wrote books on natural history for non-specialists as well as essays, short-stories and children's books, several of which he also illustrated. These include:Natural history
- To Know a Fly (1962) McGraw-Hill ISBN 0070165742
- The Ecology of a Summer House (1962) University of Massachusetts Press ISBN 0870234226
- The World of the Tent Makers (1980) University of Massachusetts Press ISBN 0870233009
- Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos (1992) Harvard University Press ISBN 0674175778 (winner of the John Burroughs MedalJohn Burroughs MedalThe John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs , is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural history....
)
Children's books
- Fairweather Duck (1970) Walker
- Newberry, The Life and Times of a Maine Clam (1981) Down East Books. ISBN 0892720859
Humor
- Buy Me a Volcano (1972) Vantage Press
- The Ant Heap (1979) Darwin Press ISBN 0878500340
Philosophical essays
- "Fly, rat and man: The continuing quest for an understanding of behavior" (1981) in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 125
- Ten Masses: Impressions (1988) Alba House ISBN 0818905379
- "Sniff, flick, and pulse: An appreciation of interruption" (1987) in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 131
Short stories
- "Haboob" (1960) The Kenyon ReviewThe Kenyon ReviewThe Kenyon Review is a Literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, USA, home of Kenyon College. The Review was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959...
, Vol. 22, No. 2 (anthologized in Gallery of Modern Fiction: Stories From the Kenyon Review, Salem Press, 1966) - "The Moth and the Primrose" (1980) The Massachusetts ReviewThe Massachusetts ReviewThe Massachusetts Review is a national literary journal founded in 1959 by a group of professors from Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst....
, Vol. 21, No. 2 (anthologized in The Best American Short Stories of 1981, Penguin Books, 1982)
Sources
- Bowman, John S. (ed), "Dethier, Vincent G. (Gaston)", The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, Cambridge University Press 1995. ISBN 0521402581
- Calisher, Hortense (ed.) The Best American Short Stories 1981, Penguin Books, 1982. ISBN 0140061355
- Capinera, John L. (ed), "Dethier, Vincent Gaston", Encyclopedia of Entomology Vol. 3, Springer, 2008, pp. 1186-1187. ISBN 1402062427
- Dethier, Vincent, "Curiosity, Milieu and Era" in Donald A. Dewsbury (ed.), Studying Animal Behavior: Autobiographies of the Founders, University of Chicago Press, 1989. ISBN 0226144100
- Gelperin, Alan, Hildebrand, John, G. and Eisner, Thomas, "Vincent Gaston Dethier 1915–1993", National Academy of Sciences, 2006 (also published in Biographical Memoirs: Volume 89, National Academies Press, 2008. ISBN 0309113725
- Hanson, Frank, Schoonhoven, Louis and Prokopy, Ronald, "In memoriam: Vincent G. Dethier", Journal of Insect Behavior, Volume 8, Number 1, January, 1995, pp. 139-148. ISSN 08927553
- New York Times, "Vincent Dethier, 78, Professor and Expert On Insects, Is Dead", 11 September 1993, p. 111
- Entomological Society of America, Winners of the Founders' Memorial Award
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Vincent G. Dethier Award, 2009