Murray S. Blum - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Murray S. Blum is an American research entomologist and a noted authority in the field of chemical ecology

Chemical ecology

Chemical ecology is the study of the chemicals involved in the interactions of living organisms. It focuses on the production of and response to signaling molecules and toxins. Chemical ecology is of particular importance among ants and other social insects – including bees, wasps, and termites –...

Early life and education

Born in 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, Blum grew up in that city and in Chicago, Illinois. He earned his Ph.D. in entomology

Entomology

Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...

from the University of Illinois

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

, he joined the faculty of Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...

. In the 1960s he moved to the University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

, where he spent three decades as a research professor before his retirement.

Research

Blum has concentrated much of his research in the area of chemical ecology

Chemical ecology

, and is well-recognized as an expert on pheromones. His subjects of interest also included the eastern lubber grasshopper
(Romalea microptera) and imported fire ants as the latter species (Solenopsis invicta) spread through the southern United States. Blum's entomology associates and close friends include noted apiologist Stephen Taber III

Stephen Taber III

Stephen Taber III. was an American apiologist, noted authority and author in the field of artificial insemination of queen bees for the purpose of developing disease resistant and gentle bee colonies.-Biography:...

Television appearances

Blum may be best-known outside of academia for his infrequent, but memorable television appearances. An extrovert with a sly sense of humor, he is remembered as the grinning scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

who convinced TV personality Bryant Gumbel

Bryant Gumbel

Bryant Charles Gumbel is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He is best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel.-Early life:...

to join him in a breakfast of sauteed grubs on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's Today Show.

Publications

A past winner of the Lamar Dodd Award for excellence in research, he is the author of many scholarly publications, including the book Chemical Defenses of Arthropods, and he has also played a role in popularizing interest in insects. Blum is also the father of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and educator Deborah Blum

Deborah Blum

Deborah Blum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York....

Resources

Blum, Murray S. Chemical Defenses of Arthropods. New York: Academic Press, 1981.
Blum, Murray S, ed. Chemistry and Toxicology of Diverse Classes of Alkaloids. Fort Collins, CO: Alaken, 1996.
Blum, Murray S., ed. Fundamentals of Insect Physiology. New York: Wiley, 1985.
Blum, Murray S. and Nancy Ann Blum, eds. Sexual Selection and Reproductive Competition in Insects. New York: Academic Press, 1979.
Blum, Murray S., ed. Toxic Action of Marine and Terrestrial Alkaloids.Ft.Collins, CO: Alaken, 1995.

External links

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