Eric Harris Davidson: A systems biologist who studied how genomes function

The phrase “force of nature” has popped up repeatedly in social media responses to the announcement of Eric Davidson’s death on September 1, 2015. This sobriquet reflects his huge influence on the fields of developmental biology and evolution. His career began about the time Watson and Crick published the structure of DNA, and his contributions continued into the genomic era in which we are now immersed. But his stature wasn’t due to this timing. As Pasteur once said: “Dans les champs de l’observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits prepares.” (“In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind”). Perhaps Eric’s strong focus on the function of the genome and his great intellect also contributed to this influence. His unwavering focus on how the genome does its job must also play a role. Furthermore, he clearly took genuine delight in confronting complex biological problems, and he erected broad views of the process of nature. This point is documented in his dedication to the third edition of Gene Activity in Early Development, where he credits his father with teaching him about organizing complex perceptions. Eric Davidson was born on April 13, 1937 in New York City, New York. He is the son of Morris and Anne Davidson. His father was a renowned abstract painter of the mid-20th century who maintained a school of painting near Provincetown on Cape Cod, Massachussetts. Eric attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate, and earned a Ph.D. from Rockefeller University (then Institute). He continued at Rockefeller as a post-doc, and then as assistant professor until 1971. He then moved to the California Institute of Technology, where he remained for the remainder of his career