Richard "Dick" Gordon (born November 6, 1943) is an American theoretical
biologist. He was born in
Brooklyn,
New York, the eldest son of Jack Gordon, a salesman and American handball champion,[1] and artist Diana Gordon. He is married to retired scientist Natalie K Björklund with whom he co-wrote his second book and several academic publications. He has three sons, Leland, Bryson and Chason Gordon and three stepchildren Justin, Alan and Lana Hunstad. Gordon was a professor at the
University of Manitoba in
Winnipeg,
Manitoba from 1978 to 2011. He is retired and currently volunteers as a scientist for the
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in
Panacea, Florida where he winters, and he holds an adjunct position in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology,
Wayne State University. Gordon lives in
Alonsa, Manitoba, Canada.
Academic career
Gordon was educated at
University of Chicago where he did an undergraduate degree in
mathematics and a PhD at
University of Oregon in
chemical physics under Terrell L Hill. His thesis was On Stochastic Growth and Form and Steady State Properties of Ising Lattice Membranes. He published his first paper in 1966.[2] Gordon is an eclectic scientist and prolific writer with over 200 peer-reviewed publications in a wide number of fields. He has edited 17 academic books and special issues of scientific journals including two books of his own both of which detail his work on
embryonic differentiation waves.[3][4] Gordon has been summoned twice to the Canadian Parliament to testify as an expert scientific witness.[5][6] He is best known for interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary work bridging biology with fields such as mathematics, engineering, physics and chemistry. He wrote the first paper on diatom nanotechnology founding that field.[7][8] He started the field of adaptive image processing.[9] He has also published about algal biofuels,[10]computed tomography,[11][12] AIDS prevention,[13]neural tube defects,[14][15] embryo physics,[16][17]astrobiology[18] as well as research[19][20] and social ethics.[21] His most cited paper is one where he applied the linear
Kaczmarz method to create the nonlinear
Algebraic Reconstruction Technique for image reconstruction with Robert Bender and
Gabor Herman in 1970.[22]
Notable scientific publications
Books
Gordon, N. & Gordon, R. Embryogenesis Explained, World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 2016.[4]
Gordon, R. (1999). The Hierarchical Genome and Differentiation Waves: Novel Unification of Development, Genetics and Evolution. Singapore & London, World Scientific & Imperial College Press.[3]
Selected academic publications
Gordon, R., R. Bender & G.T. Herman (1970). Algebraic Reconstruction Techniques (ART) for three-dimensional electron microscopy and x-ray photography. Journal of Theoretical Biology 29(3), 471-481.[22]
Gordon, R., G.T. Herman & S.A. Johnson (1975). Image reconstruction from projections. Scientific American 233(4), cover, 12, 56-61, 64-68, 139.[23]
Gordon, R. (1976). Dose reduction in computerized tomography. [Guest Editorial]. Investigative Radiology 111(6), 508-517.[24]
Gordon, R. & A.G. Jacobson (1978). The shaping of tissues in embryos. Scientific American 238(6), 106-113, 160.[25]
Gordon, R., N.K. Björklund & P.D. Nieuwkoop (1994). Dialogue on embryonic induction and differentiation waves. International Review of Cytology 150, 373-420.[26]
Gordon, R. & R.W. Drum (1994). The chemical basis of diatom morphogenesis. International Review of Cytology 150, 243-372, 421-422.[27]
Other work
The Canadian charity
Books With Wings was founded by Richard Gordon.[28] He started the work after developing an intense interest in
Afghanistan as his personal response to the
September 11 attacks.[29] Books With Wings is a collaborative project between Canadian, British, and American students and their counterparts in Afghanistan to provide books for universities throughout Afghanistan.[30][31][32]Sally Armstrong described Gordon's early efforts to start Books With Wings in her book Ascent of Women.[33]
^Gordon, R. & B.D. Aguda (1988)
Diatom morphogenesis: natural fractal fabrication of a complex microstructure Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Part 1/4: Cardiology and Imaging, 4-7 Nov. 1988, New Orleans, LA, USA. Ed.: G. Harris & C. Walker. New York, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: 273-274, 1988
^Gordon, R. & B.J. Poulin. Cost of the NSERC science grant peer review system exceeds the cost of giving every qualified researcher a baseline grant. Accountability in Research: Policies and Quality Assurance 16(1), 1-28, 2009