Moving forward by looking backwards: Thomas Eisner and Chemical Ecology

Abstract

The discipline of Chemical Ecology, and the journal Chemoecology lost one of its Zeitgeber, Bahnbrecher and main contributors on March 25, 2011, when Thomas Eisner lost a decade-long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He probably would not have described it as a ‘‘battle’’, for that would be too ham-fisted of a characterization. Perhaps, an unfairly stacked chess match might have been his preferred metaphor. As the cruel disease slowly, systematically and ruthlessly stripped him of his powers to discover, photograph and communicate, he countered each of its moves, refusing to be cornered, getting the most out of each move and doing it with his irrepressible, dark humor. Perhaps it was the first signs of Parkinson’s that got him to sit still long enough to write his wonderful memories of his scientific discoveries (For love of insects: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005). When he could no longer hold his camera with a steady hand, a digital scanner captured the stories he wanted to tell (http://www. nbb.cornell.edu/neurobio/eisner/nytimes/index.htm). His humor remained to the end. In one of our last phone calls, in November, he said that while he had lost 60 pounds and was in Hospice care, things were not all bad: ‘‘... I no longer worry about gaining weight, so last week I ate all the different types of chocolate ALDI has to offer,... when I stick out my tongue and turn sideways, I’m mistaken for a zipper...’’ Tom’s inspirational scientific and personal life has been beautifully and lovingly chronicled by some of the best science writers (Angier 2011; Brown 2011; Chang 2011) and scientists (Raguso 2011) alike. His own writings, all 500 plus papers and books, should be read and savored: not only by students of Chemical Ecology, but also by all those who yearn for a long and fulfilling life in science. Tom lived to discover, and to communicate his love for research. His relationship with the journal Science, to which he contributed dozens of research articles, cover images, and editorials, was legendary. But he did not ignore the bread-and-butter journals of the discipline: Chemoecology (27 papers) and the Journal of Chemical Ecology (20 papers). These journals were cherished by Tom, because he believed that doing science and writing up one’s discoveries for the scientific community was an essential activity, something that should be done every day, like brushing your teeth. Tom studiously avoided becoming too entangled in administrative work, a fate that commonly terminates the hands-on research careers of once successful researchers. Tom’s hands were always part of his research, and he never lost his connection to the discovery process. Scientific discovery was a life-long addiction, one that sent I. T. Baldwin (&) Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany e-mail: Baldwin@ice.mpg.de Chemoecology (2011) 21:187–189 DOI 10.1007/s00049-011-0089-z CHEMOECOLOGY