Developmental biologist and embryologist of sea urchins and other marine invertebrates.
Dr. Whiteley began his career as an echinoderm embryologist at the University of Washington and Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL) in 1947. He made sabbatical visits to Japan in 1962 and 1984, and through them contributed greatly to modern Japanese science. Dr. Whiteley loved Japanese culture, arts, sports, and food, and called sea urchins by the affectionate name used by Japanese children, ‘
ni-san.’ During his first visit to Japan, Dr. Whiteley brought with him several pioneering technologies, most notably biological isotope tracers and disc gel electrophoresis used to separate proteins. He established long-lasting friendships with several Japanese scientists, such as Drs. Katsuma and Jean Dan, Eizo Nakano, Shinya Inoué, and Osamu Shimomura, and also invited many Japanese graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to America to further their training there. He also co-organized the first US—Japan cooperative symposium on the processes and mechanisms of fertilization and early development in 1981 at FHL, and more recently in 2012, helped establish the E.S. Morse Institute Fellowship Program that funded the exchange of young scientists including graduate students between US and Japan. He was the first Honorary Member of the Institute.
To access Drs. Shinya Inoué's, Osamu Shimomura's, Hironobu Ozaki's and Fumio Iwata's reflections on Dr. Whiteley's life, visit the Supplementary Text S1 (10.2108.zsj.30.693.s1.pdf)online.
The authors acknowledge contributions from Drs. Osamu Shimomura, Shinya Inoué, Hironobu (Ed) Ozaki, Fumio Iwata, Shigeko Ooishi, Manabu Kojima, Kenjirou Yamagami, Hideo Mohri and Yukio Yokota, and help in preparing the manuscript from Ayaka J. Iwata. Dr. Whiteley's family has requested any memorial contributions and donation to be made to the Arthur H. Whiteley Memorial Fund ( https://www.Washington.edu/giving/make-a-gift/?page=funds&source_typ=3&source=WHITEA), which will benefit the Helen Riaboff Whiteley Center at the FHL. If you are interested in the E.S. Morse Institute Fellowship Program, contact http://depts.washington.edu/fhl/enews/autumn2012/esmorse.html.
