Life of J. Murray Luck
honored
Publication of Reminiscences,
which marks the centennial of the October 1899 birth of
biochemist J. Murray Luck, was celebrated by hundreds of
colleagues and well-wishers at a reception in Tresidder's
Oak Room West Oct. 3.
The autobiography traces
the career of Luck, a professor of chemistry and a
pioneer in information science. It also includes
vignettes of people Luck knew and his own observations on
many of the critical political, educational and
scientific issues of the 20th century.
At the time of his death
in 1993, Luck was a professor emeritus who had taught at
Stanford from 1926 to 1965. He was the author of several
books and more than 200 papers on topics ranging from
chemistry and environmental issues to malnutrition and
poverty. He also founded two not-for-profit scholarly
publishing enterprises Annual Reviews Inc. and the
Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship. The
new book is available through Annual Reviews (www.AnnualReviews.org) or by faxing William Kaufmann,
editor-in-chief emeritus, at 855-9815.
A former science attaché
at the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland, Luck also was the
leading English-language historian of Switzerland and the
author of three books about that country.
Luck taught biochemistry
to Stanford medical students in San Francisco and later
on the Palo Alto campus, advising more than 2,500
students during almost four decades. His specialty was
the role of proteins in carcinogenesis.
Luck played a key role in
establishing the first co-op grocery store in Palo Alto,
which subsequently led to five supermarkets in the area.
He also was part of the founding group responsible for
establishing the Stanford Federal Credit Union.
Born in Paris, Ontario,
Luck was educated at Brantford Technical Institute, the
University of Toronto and Cambridge University. SR
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