>> I heard he (Provine) had been ill, but didn't knwo it was so serious.
What is his prblem?
>>
>> STeve
>
>He has a brain tumor. It was originally thought he had a mild stroke,
>but they've since discovered a rapidly growing tumor. He's taking it
>better than I would, and he's still very active. However, the doctors
>have given him about a year.
I am sad to hear this. In any form, cancer is a nasty disease. But brain
cancer is especially hard to deal with because it often changes who you are.
On this reflector, I have often used the Nobel laureate, Howard Temin, as an
example of the scientific process in work. Howard spent many years fighting
the same dogmatic forces that don't want to give up on Darwinism, but in the
end he and David Baltimore succeeded in showing science that the central
dogma (i.e., that DNA makes RNA) was not always true. Sometimes, as Howard
and DAvid showed, RNA is used as a template to make DNA--and for this they
shared a Nobel prize.
Howard was a friend and colleague and a big reason why I came to Madison.
He was very Jewish and he and I had many interesting discussions about our
respective faiths. Perhaps he learned something from me. I know that I
learned from him--mostly that the sabbath is appropriately considered as a
sanctuary in time. Not long ago he came to the UW Cancer Center complaining
of headaches and was found to have brain metastases from lung cancer. He
died about one year later. I recall asking a Christian faculty group to
pray for him, but since he was Jewish, there was some concern about how
apropriate such prayer would be. I remain very disappointed in this
attitude and I am convicted that it is wrong. Therefore, I suggest that we
all pray for Will. It would be appropriate to pray for his soul, and for
peace for his family.
This post has nothing to do with evolution, and I apologize.
Shalom,
Steve
__________________________________________________________________________
Steven S. Clark, Ph.D. Phone: (608) 263-9137
Associate Professor FAX: (608) 263-4226
Dept. of Human Oncology and email: ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu
UW Comprehensive Cancer Ctr
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53792
"Now how does one alter the charge on the niobium ball? 'Well at that
stage', said my friend, 'we spray it with positrons to increase the charge
or with electrons to decrease the charge.' From that day forth I've been
a scientific realist. So far as I'm concerned, if you can spray them then
they are real". Ian Hacking, Representing and Intervening, 1983
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