160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031, United States
Woodruff was educated at City College of New York.
Gallery of Lorande Woodruff
New York, NY 10027, United States
Woodruff was educated at Columbia University, where he earned the A.B. degree in 1901, and the Ph.D. in 1905 under the direction of the eminent protozoologist Gary N. Calkins
Woodruff was educated at Columbia University, where he earned the A.B. degree in 1901, and the Ph.D. in 1905 under the direction of the eminent protozoologist Gary N. Calkins
Lorande Loss Woodruff was an American biologist. He was a Colgate professor of protozoology at Yale University and director of the Osborn Zoological Laboratory.
Background
Lorande Loss was born on July 14, 1879, in New York, United States. He was the son of Charles Albert and Eloise Clara Loss Woodruff. His father and grandfather, descendants of English settlers who had lived near Farmington, Connecticut, since 1641, were clothing merchants in New York City, where his mother was born.
Education
Woodruff was educated in New York public schools, City College of New York, and, later, Columbia University, where he earned the A.B. degree in 1901, and the Ph.D. in 1905 under the direction of the eminent protozoologist Gary N. Calkins.
Most of Woodruff's professional life was spent at two academic institutions: Williams College, where he served first as an assistant in biology from 1903 to 1904 and then as instructor from 1904 to 1907; and at Yale University as an instructor from 1907 to 1909 and assistant professor from 1909 to 1915; associate professor, 1915-1922; professor of protozoology, 1922 until his death.
Although occasionally he lectured at the summer sessions of the Mountain Lake Biology Laboratory of the University of Virginia, Woods Hole was the Woodruffs' principal summer base, and their cottage, with its charming hostess and genial host, became a meeting place for students and colleagues alike.
It had been contended by Weismann that old age and natural death are penalties demanded of the Metazoa because of their specialization and differentiation into somatic and germinal protoplasm, whereas the Protozoa, without this protoplasmic specialization, are potentially immortal like the germ cells.
In pursuit of the solution to this problem, Woodruff made valuable contributions, including the discovery of a process, which he called endomixis, and its role in the life cycle as a substitute for conjugation.
During these studies, he also discovered two new species of Paramecium.
These experiments spanned twenty-five years and involved some 15,000 generations of pedigreed cultures of Paramecium. Woodruff concluded that senescence is not inherent in protoplasm and that fertilization is not a necessity for continued vitality.
Membership
Woodruff belonged to many distinguished scientific societies, among them the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council, which he served as chairman of the Division of Biology and Agriculture in 1928-1929.
Personality
As a teacher, Lorande's friendly and sharp wit stimulated in the student interest and activity that reached out far beyond the limits of a specific field.
Connections
Lorande Loss Woodruff married Margaret Louise Mitchell. They had two children, Margaret Eloise, and Lorande Mitchell.