Barry Commoner | |
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![]() Commoner in 1980 | |
Born | |
Died | September 30, 2012 Manhattan, New York, United States | (aged 95)
Education | Columbia University Harvard University |
Occupation | Biologist |
Spouses |
Lisa Feiner (m. 1980) |
Awards | Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1953) |
Barry Commoner (May 28, 1917 – September 30, 2012) was an American cellular biologist, college professor, and politician. He was a leading ecologist and among the founders of the modern environmental movement. He was the director of the Center for Biology of Natural Systems[1][2] and its Critical Genetics Project.[3][4][5] He ran as the Citizens Party candidate in the 1980 U.S. presidential election.[6] His work studying the radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing led to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.[7]
He also founded the Center for Biology of Natural Systems in 1966 to promote research on ecological systems. In 2000, he stepped down as director to concentrate on new research projects of his own.
The program has been underway since February 2001. An initial analytical paper, "Unraveling the DNA Myth," has been published in the Harper's Magazine issue of February 2002....The Critical Genetics Project is a program of the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems (CBNS), Queens College, City University of New York
The study reported in Harper's Magazine is the initial publication of a new initiative called The Critical Genetics Project directed by Dr. Commoner in collaboration with molecular geneticist Dr. Andreas Athanasiou, at the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Queens College, City University of New York.