Herbert D. Landahl
Last month, the officers and elected directors of the Society for Mathematical Biology unanimously approved the H. D. Landahl Mathematical Biophysics Award for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows. This award will recognize the scientific contributions made by a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow in mathematical biology. The award will be given every other year beginning in 2017. It will alternate between two versions: in the first cycle, the award will recognize a graduate student who is making exceptional scientific contributions to mathematical biology and in the second cycle, it will recognize a postdoctoral fellow with a record of exceptional scientific contributions to mathematical biology. The award recipient will receive a cash award, plaque, and invitation to attend to the Annual Meeting of the Society.
The award was established in perpetuity thanks to the generous contribution by Evelyn Landahl. Herbert D. Landahl became the second President of the Society for Mathematical Biology in 1981. He was a pioneer in the field of mathematical biology and became the first doctoral student in Nicolas Rashevsky’s mathematical biology program at the University of Chicago. During his doctorate, he studied how lung cells divide and how gas is transported across cells during respiration. Based on that work, Dr. Landahl became involved in a U.S. military program designed to understand how inhaled chemical agents are distributed throughout the body. That work continued after World War II and into the 1960s, as he researched chemical compounds designed to reduce the effects of radiation. He was a professor at the University of Chicago until 1967 and then joined the University of California, San Francisco until his retirement.
The Society for Mathematical Biology will make an official call for nominations by the end of the summer.