Warwick Estevam Kerr
Encyclopedia
Warwick Estevam Kerr is a Brazil
ian agricultural engineer
, geneticist
, entomologist, professor
and scientific leader, notable for his discoveries in the genetics
and sex determination
of bee
s. The Africanized bee in the western hemisphere is directly descended from 26 Tanzanian queen bees (A. m. scutellata) accidentally released by a replacement bee-keeper in 1957 near Uberlândia
, Minas Gerais State
in the southeast of Brazil
from hives operated by Kerr, who had interbred honey bees from Europe and southern Africa
.
. The family moved to Pirapora de Bom Jesus, SP in 1925. He attended secondary school and the preparatory course at the Mackenzie in São Paulo
and subsequently was admitted to the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz
of the University of São Paulo
, at Piracicaba
, São Paulo, where he graduated as agricultural engineer.
From March 1975 to April 1979 Kerr moved to Manaus
, Amazonas, as director of the National Institute of Amazonia Research (INPA), a research institute of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development
(CNPq). He officially retired from the University of São Paulo
in January 1981, but not from scientific life. Exactly eleven days later he accepted a position as Full Professor at the Universidade Estadual do Maranhão in São Luís, state of Maranhão
, where he became responsible for creating the Department of Biology; and, for a short period (1987-1988) served also as Dean of the University. He moved to the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, in Uberlândia
, state of Minas Gerais
, in February 1988, as a Professor of Genetics.
Kerr is married to Lygia Sansigolo Kerr and has seven children (Florence, Lucy, Americo, Jacira, Ligia Regina, Tânia and Hélio Augusto) as well as 17 grandchildren (Caetano, Bárbara, Priscila, Beatriz, Gustavo, Daniel, Sabrina, Frederico, Carla, Marta, Alexandre, Lucas, Jonatas, Mateus, Flávia, Warwick Neto, Tiago). His hobbies include cultivating native flower
s, orchids and fruit
s, as well as sports and gardening
.
, where he studied with the famous geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky
.
In 1958, he was invited by Prof. Dias da Silveira to assist in organizing the Department of Biology
at the Faculdade de Ciências de Rio Claro, of the recently created State University of São Paulo UNESP
, in the city of Rio Claro, where he stayed until 1964, directing a research group on the genetics of bee
s, his main field of specialization. From 1962 to 1964, he served as the Scientific Director to organize the recently created São Paulo State Research Foundation
(FAPESP).
In December 1964, he accepted the position of Full Professor of Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
of the University of São Paulo, in order to create a new Department of Genetics. In this capacity, Kerr was able to establish a research center of excellence, particularly in the areas of entomological genetics and human genetics
, and that trained many masters and doctoral students. The department included a new research and teaching area, that of mathematical biology
and biostatistics
, the first of its kind in a medical school in Brazil; and was a pioneer in the use of computer
s in biology and medicine, particularly for genetics applied to animal husbandry
.
In all these positions he never stopped his research on Meliponini, specially the genus Melipona
, which is a genus of Neotropical bees that are frequently subject to the predatory action of wild honey gatherers (meleiros in Portuguese
). Kerr became well known for his research on the hybridization of the African bee and the Italian bee
(Apis mellifera ligustica).
Kerr has 620 publications on various subjects. Apart from being a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
, he is also a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences
of the USA, and of the Third World Academy of Sciences
. He was admitted by President Itamar Franco
to the National Order of Scientific Merit at the Grã-Cruz class in 1994.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian agricultural engineer
Agricultural engineering
Agricultural engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering science and technology to agricultural production and processing...
, geneticist
Geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
, entomologist, professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
and scientific leader, notable for his discoveries in the genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and sex determination
Sex-determination system
A sex-determination system is a biological system that determines the development of sexual characteristics in an organism. Most sexual organisms have two sexes. In many cases, sex determination is genetic: males and females have different alleles or even different genes that specify their sexual...
of bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s. The Africanized bee in the western hemisphere is directly descended from 26 Tanzanian queen bees (A. m. scutellata) accidentally released by a replacement bee-keeper in 1957 near Uberlândia
Uberlândia
Uberlândia is the main town in the Triangle region, west of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. With a population of 604,013 inhabitants, according to 2010 estimates, the city is the second largest in the state second only to Belo Horizonte...
, Minas Gerais State
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
in the southeast of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
from hives operated by Kerr, who had interbred honey bees from Europe and southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
.
Biography
Kerr was born in 1922, in Santana do Parnaíba, São Paulo, son of Américo Caldas Kerr and Bárbara Chaves Kerr. The family immigrated by way of the United States. His family is originally from ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The family moved to Pirapora de Bom Jesus, SP in 1925. He attended secondary school and the preparatory course at the Mackenzie in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
and subsequently was admitted to the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz
Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz
The Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz is a unit of the University of São Paulo involved with research, teaching and extension of services in agriculture, animal husbandry, agricultural and related sciences. The ESALQ main campus, located at Piracicaba, has six undergraduate and...
of the University of São Paulo
University of São Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
, at Piracicaba
Piracicaba
Piracicaba is a city located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population in 2009 was 368,843 in an area of 1,369.511 km², at an elevation of 547 m above sea level.-Name:...
, São Paulo, where he graduated as agricultural engineer.
From March 1975 to April 1979 Kerr moved to Manaus
Manaus
Manaus is a city in Brazil, the capital of the state of Amazonas. It is situated at the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers. It is the most populous city of Amazonas, according to the statistics of Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and is a popular ecotourist destination....
, Amazonas, as director of the National Institute of Amazonia Research (INPA), a research institute of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
The Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico is an organization of the Brazilian federal government under the Ministry of Science and Technology, dedicated to the promotion of scientific and technological research and to the formation of human resources for research in the...
(CNPq). He officially retired from the University of São Paulo
University of São Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
in January 1981, but not from scientific life. Exactly eleven days later he accepted a position as Full Professor at the Universidade Estadual do Maranhão in São Luís, state of Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
, where he became responsible for creating the Department of Biology; and, for a short period (1987-1988) served also as Dean of the University. He moved to the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, in Uberlândia
Uberlândia
Uberlândia is the main town in the Triangle region, west of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. With a population of 604,013 inhabitants, according to 2010 estimates, the city is the second largest in the state second only to Belo Horizonte...
, state of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
, in February 1988, as a Professor of Genetics.
Kerr is married to Lygia Sansigolo Kerr and has seven children (Florence, Lucy, Americo, Jacira, Ligia Regina, Tânia and Hélio Augusto) as well as 17 grandchildren (Caetano, Bárbara, Priscila, Beatriz, Gustavo, Daniel, Sabrina, Frederico, Carla, Marta, Alexandre, Lucas, Jonatas, Mateus, Flávia, Warwick Neto, Tiago). His hobbies include cultivating native flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s, orchids and fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s, as well as sports and gardening
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
.
Scientific contributions
His scientific life began in Piracicaba, where he received his doctorate (D.Sc) and later was an assistant professor. In 1951, he did postdoctoral studies as a Visiting Professor at the University of California at Davis and, in 1952, at Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he studied with the famous geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky
Theodosius Dobzhansky
Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky ForMemRS was a prominent geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the unifying modern evolutionary synthesis...
.
In 1958, he was invited by Prof. Dias da Silveira to assist in organizing the Department of Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at the Faculdade de Ciências de Rio Claro, of the recently created State University of São Paulo UNESP
Unesp
Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho is one of the six public universities of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, with USP, UFABC, UNIFESP, UFSCar and UNICAMP. It's a part of the state’s higher education system.UNESP has a combined student body of almost 40,000 spread among its 23...
, in the city of Rio Claro, where he stayed until 1964, directing a research group on the genetics of bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s, his main field of specialization. From 1962 to 1964, he served as the Scientific Director to organize the recently created São Paulo State Research Foundation
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo is a public foundation located in São Paulo, Brazil, with the aim of providing grants, funds and programs to support research, education and innovation of private and public institutions and companies in the state of São Paulo...
(FAPESP).
In December 1964, he accepted the position of Full Professor of Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto
Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto is a medical school of the University of São Paulo located in the city of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo, Brazil, founded 1952...
of the University of São Paulo, in order to create a new Department of Genetics. In this capacity, Kerr was able to establish a research center of excellence, particularly in the areas of entomological genetics and human genetics
Human genetics
Human genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics,...
, and that trained many masters and doctoral students. The department included a new research and teaching area, that of mathematical biology
Mathematical biology
Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in biology, medicine and biotechnology...
and biostatistics
Biostatistics
Biostatistics is the application of statistics to a wide range of topics in biology...
, the first of its kind in a medical school in Brazil; and was a pioneer in the use of computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s in biology and medicine, particularly for genetics applied to animal husbandry
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
.
In all these positions he never stopped his research on Meliponini, specially the genus Melipona
Melipona
Melipona is a genus of stingless bees. These are widespread in warm areas of the Neotropics, from Sinaloa and Tamaulipas to Tucumán and Misiones . At least 40 species are known....
, which is a genus of Neotropical bees that are frequently subject to the predatory action of wild honey gatherers (meleiros in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
). Kerr became well known for his research on the hybridization of the African bee and the Italian bee
Italian bee
Apis mellifera ligustica is the Italian bee which is a sub-species of the western honey bee .- Origin :The Italian honey bee is thought to originate from the continental part of Italy, South of the Alps, and North of Sicily...
(Apis mellifera ligustica).
Kerr has 620 publications on various subjects. Apart from being a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences is the national academy of Brazil. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro and was founded in 1916....
, he is also a Foreign Associate of the 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...
of the USA, and of the Third World Academy of Sciences
Third World Academy of Sciences
TWAS, until 2004 named Third World Academy of Sciences and now TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, is a merit-based science academy uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable development in...
. He was admitted by President Itamar Franco
Itamar Franco
Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco was a Brazilian politician and the President of Brazil from December 29, 1992, to January 1, 1995. During his long political career, Franco was also a Senator, Mayor, Ambassador, Governor and Vice President...
to the National Order of Scientific Merit at the Grã-Cruz class in 1994.
Sources
- Warwick Estevam Kerr Biography. Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
- Warwick Estevam Kerr (Depoimento,1977). FUNDAÇÃO GETULIO VARGAS.