The 1999 GSA Honors and Awards

The 1999 George W. Beadle Medal

IT is a pleasure to recognize Michael Ashburner as the first awardee of the George W. Beadle Medal. Michael's early work on the regulation of ecdysone-induced chromosome puffs in Drosophila is truly seminal and laid the foundation for all subsequent work in the field. His model of the regulation of early vs. late puffs, which he drew from genetic and cytogenetic observations, is now largely supported by the molecular analyses carried out by his scientific progeny, all of whom acknowledge Michael's insight and founding contribution to their work.

Michael continues to play a very significant role in the Drosophila community. Over the years he has established himself as the repository of an encyclopedic amount of information on the genetics of flies and the relationship of the Drosophila system to other genetically tractable systems. He is one of the founding members of FlyBase, an electronic database of the genetics of Drosophila. He has produced, by editorial prowess or writing them himself, several extremely valuable compendia on the genetics and biology of Drosophila. These contributions to the community are widely recognized as invaluable to research in the area, and have earned Michael a prominent international reputation. It is not an overstatement to argue that Michael's book, Drosophila: A Laboratory Handbook, was instrumental in providing a critical primer on the "real genetics" of Drosophila to those entering the field from other disciplines. It is now cited as the primary source for many basic genetic techniques and approaches. Prior to the laboratory handbook, Michael's Genetics and Biology of Drosophila anthology served as the core repository of information regarding fly genetics and biology from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

Michael also organized the Advanced Drosophila Genetics Course at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and continues as its primary instructor almost fifteen years later. The number of important meetings and workshops he has organized is beyond count, as is the number of seminal review articles. But these public venues, while important, do not match the contribution he has made by the constant one-on-one tutelage of so many of us in the community (whether we desired it or not).

We can think of no one more deserving of this award. The Drosophila and genetics community benefit immensely from Michael's contributions. Those of us who have known him personally have been greatly enriched by him. His legacy of contribution, as well as those to come, will ensure that future generations of fly workers will owe him a similar debt of gratitude.