Press Releases

February 13, 2002
Life Science Professor's Research Also Lands in the Funny Pages

Southampton College Biologist Ed Himelblau Is a Skilled Cartoonist

Contact:
Darren Johnson (PR@southampton.liu.edu)
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

For most scientists, a publication credit in the journal Nature is a career achievement that is to be taken very seriously. For Southampton College Assistant Professor Ed Himelblau, getting into the prestigious periodical just took a few strokes of the pen and the ability to laugh at himself.

Other people are laughing with him.

Ed Himelblau

It turns out that the popular professor is not just out to publish his research papers, but also has become well established in the cult art of molecular biology cartooning. Himelblau has had his hilarious toons printed in Nature and a host of other top scholarly journals and on websites. He even uses the one-panel drawings - that follow in the tradition of "The Far Side" - as teaching aids in his life-science lectures at Southampton College.

"Cartooning is something that I've always enjoyed, and it works into my schedule," said Himelblau, who also was an art major for a while at the University of California at San Diego. "I'll pen down a funny idea while in a lab or in a faculty meeting - my colleagues are always providing grist for the mill."

The cartooning actually isn't easy. A typical Himelblau piece takes about a week, and some works take much longer. Often he tackles topics that are in-jokes among the scientific community. "I did a whole series on bar graphs - and if there is something that isn't funny it's bar graphs," he deadpanned. Himelblau's wife, Kit, is also an artist. They live in Southampton.

The more mainstream cartoons reach a wider audience. "One of the first cartoons I ever drew with the intention of being published was accepted by Nature-Genetics within a week," the professor said. "I hope some day my scientific work can get in there as well."

Himelblau earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and researches plant genetics and biotechnology. His papers have appeared in top journals in the field, including Plant Physiology and Trends in Plant Sciences. At Southampton College, he teaches genetics and cell biology.