HERBERT C. DESSAUER

HERBERT Clay Dessauer was born on 30 December 1921 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Herbert Andrew Dessauer and Shirley Ross Patin Dessauer, the first of four children. His siblings are Carol P. Dessauer Duplantis, a nurse, born 12 September 1923; Don P. Dessauer, insurance executive, born 23 December 1926; Jane P. Dessauer Luecke, teacher, born 20 January 1931. His father was a jeweler, athletics coach, and a professional baseball player; and his mother was a preschool and elementary school teacher. In fact, in one of the local churches, she organized one of the first preschool classes in New Orleans. Herb, as he is affectionately known, spent his early years in the Broadmoor area of New Orleans, which is nine feet below sea level. Herb recalls the 1927 flood in New Orleans when he was six years old; his home was spared from flooding because it was built on four-foot pillars. The children watched their neighbors go by boat to get bread and milk from the second story window of the drug store. That flood was the stimulus for the national program that led to the spillway system in Louisiana.

When Herb was 10 years old, his family was forced to break up because his father could find no work during the Great Depression. This was difficult for the family because they were a close-knit group. Herb was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, his sister Carol went to live with an uncle, and his younger sister Jane and brother Don stayed with their parents at the home of his paternal grandparents. After a year of separation, his father found work as a laborer on the construction of the Huey P. Long Bridge across the Mississippi River. That was the bridge that critics said “couldn't be built,” but it was. At this time their home had an outdoor privy and neither gas nor electricity, but the family was together again. The children never felt poverty stricken. Herb had a garden where he grew the lettuce his mother fried as a source of calories for the hungry kids. Saturday night was bath time. Water was heated over a wood stove, and all bathed in a galvanized washtub. Herb recalls an occasion when a young heavy-set guest became stuck in the tub, and he and his father had to pull her out—very embarrassing for everybody. To entertain the children, Herb's mother packed a lunch and they rode up and down on the Canal Street ferry, which was free.

For Christmas in 1934, Herb (aged 13) received a chemistry set. A family friend who owned a commercial chemical company furthered his interest in chemistry. He quickly did all the experiments provided by the manual until they turned boring. Then he devised more exciting experiments like making gunpowder, generating hydrogen, and trying different chemicals on various things. It was at this time that on his own he discovered chemical indicators by changing the color of flowers by acid and alkali treatment. This was his first taste of the thrill of discovery, which has followed him throughout his career.

While in high school, he and a friend rode a bicycle to school five miles away until his bike was stolen. Then he walked the distance and gradually began running it. This led to his winning a 3-mile foot race sponsored by the high school and becoming the distance runner on the track team. In January 1941, he won the prestigious Jackson Day Race (in 1940 he had come in second).

Herb and his friends were fascinated with Jacque Costeau's early development of the Aqualung. This was the stimulus for them to build a homemade diving helmet from a 5-gallon putty can, a glass visor, and a hose connection with a one-way valve and a bicycle pump as a source of air. They could move around for 45 min at the bottom of eight feet of water in Lake Pontchartrain with this contraption, and to this day, Herb wonders why no one died from acidosis in their helmet.

Herb's parents had a great respect for education, and he was taught the use of libraries and the treasure house of information stored therein. In fact, in high school classes, he was often caught reading instead of listening to the teacher. The family thought that, because of their lack of funds, he had little chance of attending college. However, a family friend already attending Louisiana State University (LSU), Baton Rouge, told him that with about $100 and a student job he could go to LSU. A job as a plumber's assistant allowed him to earn the $100 needed for registration and books. He entered LSU in September 1941, as a student in chemical engineering, but his plans were altered by the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1943, Herb entered the Air Forces Cadet Program in Meteorology, an extensive training program. After a 6-month series of premeteorology at the University of New Mexico, he entered the master's program in meterorology at California Institute of Technology (CIT). He graduated in June 1945, with a Professional Certificate in Meteorology. In 1952, after the war and after earning a bachelor's degree at LSU (1949), he was awarded the master's in meteorology at CIT.

Herb spent the war years as a weather officer at air bases in the United States and in Japan. From Japan, he was one of the first “hurricane hunters,” flying into hurricanes to make meteorological measurements. While in Japan during the occupation, Herb read Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith, and he started dreaming about a career in biology. After the war, he left the service with the rank of First Lieutenant and then he had to decide whether to take a lucrative job as a meteorologist, complete studies in chemical engineering, or follow his new interest in biology by going to medical school.

The fall of 1946 found Herb entering LSU, taking courses required for entering medical school. While taking comparative anatomy with George Kent, Herb wondered whether there was molecular evidence for evolution, and Kent said he knew of none. This intrigued Herb. In 1947, he entered LSU Medical School, and after two years he was not sure he had made the right choice. Medicine and science can be very different pursuits. A note from biochemistry Professor Fred Brazda solved his dilemma. The biochemistry staff offered Herb a teaching assistantship, and he joined their new graduate program (Fig. 1). He became the first Ph.D. student to enter and the first, in 1952, to receive the Ph.D. degree from the LSU Medical Center.

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Until Herb's reading of Arrowsmith, his scientific interests had focused on chemical and physical sciences with a wartime divergence into the earth sciences. He had had little exposure to biology and even less to herpetology. As a graduate student, Herb began to work with Professors Roland A. Coulson and Tom Hernandez, scholars with broad backgrounds in biology. He joined them in their long-term, classical, ground-breaking studies in alligator physiology, including a study of the alkaline tide. These professors instilled in Herb the pleasure of doing detailed work on a problem, the importance of obtaining accurate analytical data, the value of carefully, creatively planned experiments, and the unparalleled satisfaction and excitement at moments of discovery. He studied the biochemistry of Anolis carolinensis, easily obtainable in New Orleans, for his dissertation. After completing his Ph.D., he was hired as an instructor and remained in the same department for over 50 years. In 1954, shortly after Herb earned his doctorate, Wade Fox joined the faculty in the anatomy department. Soon the two were collaborating on studies of the photoperiod and other factors on growth and reproductive cycles in lizards and snakes. Working with Wade until his premature death in 1961 was like having a graduate course in herpetology.

Those who had a major influence on Herb were Hugh North Evans, a family friend in the chemical business; Rol Coulson and Tom Hernandez, his major professors in biochemistry; and Wade Fox in herpetology. Wade influenced Herb to join ASIH, about 1956.

Herb has many experiences to tell about fellow herpetologists. George Gorman spent a summer working in Herb's lab and was a source of many humorous episodes, often involving George's forgetfulness. When leaving for some fieldwork in the Caribbean, George left a massive amount of photographic equipment on the sidewalk while hurrying to catch a cab to the airport. On another occasion, in Tobago, he sought out the owner of a place where he stayed once before and the owner said, “I remember you; you left your hat here last year.”

Errors can show up even in the most carefully edited and proofed publications. In one paper with Dick Zweifel on blood chemistry of kingsnakes bred in a laboratory colony, they referred to the “bleeding colony of kingsnakes.” Another paper by them on New Guinea frogs had a reviewer give such a rowsing review that Dick said it must have been reviewed by his mother. Herb tells about Wade Fox taking some relatives to the French Quarter for a night out. When they returned home, Wade later heard the ladies attempting to twirl tassels with their breasts, mimicking a French Quarter dancer.

On a short stay at the Hastings Reservation in Carmel Valley, California, Herb's wife, Fran, was helping in the kitchen. While putting away dishes in a cabinet, she noticed a cute little owl, perhaps ceramic. Suddenly she thought she saw it wink. It did. It was a pet of the reservation director. One day while Jay Cole and Herb were chasing down Cnemidophorus in New Mexico, Carol Townsend, Jay's wife, was dissecting the lizards, processing blood and tissues. A rancher watching Carol told Jay, “I'm glad she's not my wife.” Carol looked over at this crusty old snaggle-tooth character and said “So am I!”

During his years teaching, Herb's students have applied many appellations to the professor they obviously liked. Early on, they nicknamed him Coach. One young woman called him Prof. Sexauer, and another said he looked like a Greek God. Times change—his 1999 nurse's class called him Professor Grandpa.

On 10 December 1949, Herb married Frances Jane Moffatt (b. 1926). Fran has been extremely supportive through their 53 years of married life and even before when they were courting in medical school. Fran defended Herb's decision to quit a lucrative career in medicine and shift to the doctoral program in biochemistry. Fran has been a great wife and she forgives the strange hours Herb works at the lab or in the field. She is a gracious hostess and confidante to graduate students and their spouses. Colleagues are always welcomed with good food and cheer whenever they visit. Snakes in the living room and alligators in the bath tub as well as visits by strange and weird associates are always tolerated and often enjoyed, speaking volumes for their relationship, even though Herb once forgot Fran's name when trying to introduce her to some students.

Fran and Herb have three children. Dan Winston was born 15 November 1952. Dan earned a BS in horticulture at LSU and a MS from the University of Florida. He then earned a doctorate in veterinary sciences and has a successful practice in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Rebecca, born 18 August 1954, earned a BS in speech from LSU and an MS in speech therapy from the LSU School of Medicine. As a teacher in the Jefferson Parish schools, she works with young children with speech problems. Bryan, born 20 June 1958, works in construction trades with skills in carpentry, glasswork, and automobile body work.

During Herb's outstanding career, he has been a meteorologist for the U.S. Army Air Force, instructor to professor in biochemistry and molecular biology on the faculty of the LSU Medical Center, and a consultant at the Veterans' Administration Hospital, New Orleans. Of Herb's many achievements, he is most proud of winning the Jackson Day Cross Country Race in 1941.

Herb's career has been filled with ground-breaking achievements. Herb is considered by many to be the Father of Molecular Herpetology. Nonherpetologists consider Herb to be one of the Fathers of Molecular Systematics. Some of his discoveries or codiscoveries include the following. (1) The effect on blood pH of chloride and bicarbonate levels of feeding alligators (with Coulson and Hernandez). The shift during feeding in electrolyte and pH (alkaline tide) in alligators is by far the largest observed in any vertebrate. (2) Studies (with Wade Fox) on the influence of photoperiod and season on calorie consumption, organ size, and blood levels in Anolis, and seasonal cycles in female ribbon snakes of blood components, liver, fat body, and egg sizes and composition. (3) Pioneering the application of protein electrophoresis in population studies of a wide variety of species such as cricket frogs, toads, snakes, lizards, and alligators. (4) Development (with Sho Shian Mao) of protein datasets that formed the basis for rearranging the genera of the Natricini. (5) Initiation of (with Wade Fox and Harvey Pough) the first detailed molecular examination of genetic variation across a hybrid zone of vertebrates, published in Copeia in 1962. A comprehensive study of the Cnemidophorus tigris hybrid zone in southwestern New Mexico was completed in 2000 with the collaboration of Jay Cole and Carol Townsend. (6) Studies (with Jay Cole) on the genetics of unisexual lizards of the genera Cnemidophorus, Kentropyx, and Gymnophthalmus giving them a clear understanding of the hybrid origins of the species, variation within morphotypes, and clonal patterns of inheritance. (7) Development (with Tod Reeder and Jay Cole) of a comprehensive set of morphological, karyotypic, protein, and DNA data for numerous macroteiid lizards, testing for monophyly of Cnemidophorus. (8) Pioneering the establishment of frozen tissue collections. (9) Developing simple techniques or equipment such as a plastic hand-foot centrifuge based on the Chinese Top structure, a variety of innovations for electrophoretic apparatus, adaptation of the allele specific oligonucleotide probes for use in population studies. (10) Identification (with Travis Glenn) of alligator macrosatellites and application of these polyallelic probes in population studies of alligators. The distribution of microsatellite alleles in individuals of single egg clutches has shown the existence of multiple parentage in alligators. Previously he had demonstrated (with Dick Zweifel) double paternity in clutches of king snake eggs.

Herb feels that his major contributions to herpetology and his profession are that he helped broaden research methods to include molecular data. He acted as a major professor for students who are presently leaders in the profession such as Lew Densmore, Mike Braun, Dan Shochat, and Jesus Jiminez-Porras; and he helped introduce Robin Lawson, Don Gartside, George Gorman, Harvey Pough, Jay Cole, and other herpetologists to molecular techniques.

Herb sees that the major changes in herpetology from his early days are the adoption of a wide variety of approaches to research problems. In the early 1950s, most research used techniques of classical morphology. Now problems are addressed by different approaches from pure molecular, karyotypes, modern multivariate statistics, physiological studies, genetics, ecology, and behavior. More and more studies are becoming multidisciplinary. Herb sees the major problems facing herpetology today relate to conservation.

Herb has gained a lot from ASIH and has given to it as well. He gained the opportunity to work on scientific problems with outstanding scientists such as Wade Fox, Jay Cole, Dick Zweifel, Eviatar Nevo, and Harold Cogger. This was a broadening education and he sees those scientists as professors for his postdoctoral education. In addition to participating in ASIH meetings (Fig. 2), Herb has served on the editorial board of Copeia, and in 1986 served as the president of ASIH. He has given much of his time to other herpetological organizations as well, such as being a member of the editorial board of Herpetologica, board of directors of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, and the First World Congress of Herpetology. His service also goes to his other professional societies as well, such as the American Physiological Society and the American Genetics Association. He is on the editorial board of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. He has served on several National Science Foundation panels, and numerous symposia. Herb has had field experience in Trinidad, Grenada, Manus Island, New Ireland, New Britain, Taiwan, Peru, Venezuela, and South Australia. He was a member of the 1969 ALPHA HELIX EXPEDITION to New Guinea, an exciting adventure.

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In Herb's long career, which is ongoing, Herb has authored or coauthored over 120 scientific publications and 80 abstracts. He is a fellow in AAAS and the Herpetologists' League. Besides continuing his work as professor emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at LSU Medical Center, he is a Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Natural Science at LSU, and an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans. Herb enjoys athletics, reading, playing with his grandchildren, gardening, and traveling.