WORLD OF MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY Davies, Julian E.151•
to his own, Darwin decided to release his research. On the
Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The
Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, was
published November 1859, and became an instant bestseller.
A common misconception is that On the Origin of
Specieswas the introduction of the concept of human evolu-
tion. In fact, a discussion of human antiquity is relatively
absent from the book. Darwin did not directly address the rela-
tionship between animal and human evolution until he pub-
lished The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sexin- Darwin introduced not only a model for the biological
evolution of man, but also attempted to chart the process of
man’s psychological evolution. He further tried to break down
the barriers between man and animals in 1872 with his work
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. By
observing facial features and voice sounds, Darwin asserted
that man and non-human animals exhibited signs of emotion
in similar ways. In the last years of his career, Darwin took the
concept of organic evolution to its logical end by applying nat-
ural selection and specialization to the plant kingdom.
Darwin’s works on evolution met with both debate from
the scientific societies, and criticism from some members of
the clergy. On the Origin of Speciesand The Descent of Man
were both published at a time of heightened religious evangel-
icalism in England. Though willing to discuss his theories with
colleagues in the sciences, Darwin refrained from participating
in public debates concerning his research. In the last decade of
his life, Darwin was disturbed about the application of his evo-
lutionary models to social theory. By most accounts, he con-
sidered the emerging concept of the social and cultural
evolution of men and civilizations, which later became known
as Social Darwinism, to be a grievous misinterpretation of his
works. Regardless of his opposition, he remained publicly tac-
iturn about the impact his scientific theories on theology, sci-
entific methodology, and social theory. Closely guarding his
privacy, Darwin retired to his estate in Down. He died at Down
House in 1882. Though his wishes were to receive an informal
burial, Parliament immediately ordered a state burial for the
famous naturalist at Westminster Abby. By the time of his
death, the scientific community had largely accepted the argu-
ments favoring his theories of evolution. Although the later dis-
coveries in genetics and molecular biology radically
reinterpreted Darwin’s evolutionary mechanisms, evolutionary
theory is the key and unifying theory in all biological science.
See alsoEvolution and evolutionary mechanisms; Evolu-
tionary origin of bacteria and virusesDDavies, Julian E.AVIES, JULIANE. (1932- )
Welsh bacteriologistJulian Davies is a bacteriologist renowned for his research
concerning the mechanisms of bacterial resistance to antibi-
otics, and on the use of antibiotics as research tools.
Davies was born in Casrell Nedd, Morgannwg, Cymru,
Wales. He received his education in Britain. His university
education was at the University of Nottingham, where hereceived a B.Sc. (Chemistry, Physics, Math) in 1953 and a
Ph.D. (Organic Chemistry) in 1956. From 1959 to 1962, he
was Lecturer at the University of Manchester. Davies then
moved to the United States where he was an Associate at the
Harvard Medical School from 1962 until 1967. From 1965 to
1967, he was also a Visiting Professor at the Institute Pasteur
in Paris. In 1967, Davies became an Associate Professor in the
Department of Biochemistryat the University of Wisconsin.
He attained the rank of Professor in 1970 and remained at
Wisconsin until 1980. In that year, Davies took up the post of
Research Director at Biogen in Geneva. In 1983, he became
President of Biogen. Two years later, Davies assumed the
position of Chief of Genetic Microbiology at the Institute
Pasteur, where he remained until 1992. In that year, he
returned to North America to become Professor and Head of
the Department of Microbiology and Immunologyat UBC. He
retained this position until his retirement in 1997. Presently he
remains affiliated with UBC as Emeritus Professor in the same
department.
While in British Columbia, Davies returned to commer-
cial biotechnology. In 1996, he founded and became President
and CEO of TerraGen Diversity Inc. Davies assumed the post
of Chief Scientific Officer from 1998 to 2000. From 2000 to
the present, he is Executive Vice President, technology devel-
opment of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Davies has made fundamental discoveries in the area of
bacterial antibiotic resistance, including the origin and evolu-
tionof antibiotic resistance genes. He has identified bacterial
plasmidsthat carry genes that carry the information that deter-
mines the resistance of bacteria to certain antibiotics.
Furthermore, he demonstrated that this information could be
transferred from one bacterium to another. These discoveries
have crucial to the efforts to develop drugs that can overcome
such antibiotic resistance.
Another facet of research has demonstrated how genetic
information can be transferred between bacteria that are dis-
tantly related. This work has had a fundamental influence on
the understanding of how bacteria can acquire genetic traits,
especially those that lead to antimicrobial resistance.
Davies has also developed a technique whereby genes
can be “tagged” and their path from one bacterium to another
followed. This technique is now widely used to follow gene
transfer between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. In another
research area, Davies has explored the use of antibiotics as
experimental tools to probe the mechanisms of cellular
biochemistry, and the interaction between various molecules
in cells.
This prodigious research output has resulted in over 200
publications in peer-reviewed journals, authorship of six
books and numerous guest lectures.
Davies has also been active as an undergraduate and
graduate teacher and a mentor to a number of graduate stu-
dents. These research, commercial and teaching accomplish-
ments have been recognized around the world. He is a Fellow
of the Royal Society (London) and the Royal Society of
Canada, and is a past President of the American Society for
Microbiology. In 2000, he received a lifetime achievementwomi_D 5/6/03 2:09 PM Page 151