The Collective Contributions of Ruben, Jacobs, Mark, and Harker To Medical Research in the 1940s and 1950s
At the national level, the 1940s and 1950s seemed to mark a time of great medical advancements following a period of conflict. During these time periods, the U.S. was still experiencing the effects of WWII. Malaria outbreaks were challenges (Paltzer, 2016). But during this time the U.S experienced great medical advancements. The 1940s was a time where antibiotic development progressed (American Chemical Society, n.d.). By the 1950s, vaccines were made to combat polio (PBS, 1998). President Franklin D. Roosevelt even made national efforts to emphasize toxicology research with the dedication of several NIH institutions (Haack, 2022).
Within the PIB, the works of Samuel Ruben, Morris Jacobs, Herman Mark, and David Harker all had connections to medical research during the 1940s and 1950s. These scientists made significant contributions in their respective fields, which addressed a need and was relevant to the time.
Herman Mark had long been perceived as a well known figure in the realm of polymer science, but his research had important connections to understanding how proteins fold and interact in biological systems. The field of molecular biology expanded dramatically during the 1950s as discoveries were being made on the structure of proteins. For instance, protein research seemed to be of great importance in the US as the structure of proteins was beginning to be understood by Linus Pauling in 1951 (The Nobel Prize, 2025). Herman Mark’s work on polymer science was also highly relevant to the understanding of protein structure and even had biological applications. His work influenced the work of F.R. Eirich who delved into how proteins within blood could coagulate or form clots (Eirich, 1981). He also applied protein folding to understand how to design biocompatible implants. Eirich and Mark’s conceptual approach also led to the development of further questions to explore such as how components of cell membranes functioned.
As previously mentioned, the 1940s and 1950 marked a time where the US was still recovering from and witnessing the effects of WWII. Toxicology research became especially pertinent, and this was seen even at the national level with President Roosevelt’s dedication of NIH facilities and Industrial Hygiene Building (Haack, 2022). This drew significant parallels to Jacobs’ work on toxicology and public health. Jacobs wrote technical manuals on chemical warfare agents, which perhaps could have informed the public and military personnel about potential exposures to chemicals during the onset of war. He discusses the physiological role of these agents, symptoms associated with exposure, and protective and preventive measures. Jacobs’ work was highly relevant during this time.
Samuel Ruben was an inventor with a multitude of works and patents related to batteries. However, his batteries didn’t just stay in the realm of engineering science. It was used to develop an implantable cardiac pacemaker. Pressing heart problems among middle aged adults during the 1950s eventually led to 7 research groups finding ways to combat this problem (Jeffrey, 2003). One of these research groups was surgeon William Chardack and electrical engineer Wilson Greatbatch (Jeffrey, 2003). Greatbatch had seen great potential in using Ruben’s battery technology to take on the project, which he did (Jeffrey, 2003). Ruben’s batteries were used for the design of one of the first fully implantable cardiac pacemakers, which was successfully implanted into 77-year-old Frank Henefelt in 1960 (Jeffrey, 2003). This field of cardiac pacemaking went on to revolutionize the field of cardiology and designs became further refined over the years.
David Harker was a known crystallographer who spent decades studying X-ray diffraction and the structure of proteins, with some of his work being done at PIB during the 1950s (Hargittai, 2023). Although Harker did not solve the structure of ribonuclease while at PIB, he spent 10 years working on the Protein Structure Project at PIB (Hargittai, 2023). He started at a time when not a single protein structure was known (Goodman, 1953). Moreover, at PIB, Harker and his team developed innovative techniques that were later applied to the study of crystallography, such as the Eulerian cradle, later becoming a commercial goniostat (Hauptman, 1998). Although his efforts at PIB did not go in vain, Harker’s real breakthrough came while he was at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute where he discovered the structure of ribonuclease (Hargittai, 2023).
Overall, the works of these researchers were different in comparison to each other. They went on to influence fields of toxicology, molecular biology, and cardiology. But, their works all addressed pressing problems or offered relevant information in each of these areas. Though Ruben, Mark, Harker, and Jacobs may carry on an identity of being either strictly engineers, chemists, or inventors, their work did offer contributions to the field of medical science for years to come.
A Paradigm Shift in the View of Medical Research from PIB to Tandon
However, their works were not the only thing that would be surprising. Knowing David Harker’s reason for moving the project may be a surprise to many as well. PIB had deemed the work on protein structures inappropriate for an engineering institution, which led to his relocation at the Roswell Cancer Institute (Hauptman, 1998). Not all science was treated equally at PIB. It seems as if the engineers and inventors including Ruben, Mark, and Jacobs were not subject to the same scrutiny. This is not well understood, but in the case of Ruben, Mark, and Jacobs, they had multiple works, some of which happened to be highly applicable to medical advancements. Harker, on the other hand, seemed to have one sole research project for 10 years, which had strong ties to medicine. Thus, it seems that explicit medical research was not extremely supported at PIB. In line with this, apart from faculty members supporting medical research, as was the case of Mark who held symposia on behalf of PIB, some of which were in collaboration with medical institutions, the PIB as an institution did not seem to advertise medicine. As discussed earlier, the brochures sent out to prospective students by PIB in the 1950s only had brief mentions of medicine, but it was not boldly announced.
This leads to a revelation of a paradigm shift in the perception of medical research at PIB versus now at NYU Tandon. Medical research at PIB was prominent during the 1940s and 1950s, but it was evidently not all accepted. It seems that PIB made an effort to preserve itself as a strict engineering institution and did not want to deviate from that title. This is almost completely opposite to what is seen in 2025 at NYU Tandon. More of an emphasis is being placed on medical research, as evidenced by recent collaborations with Langone Health and welcoming new faculty members with extensive backgrounds in medical research to open new divisions and avenues to combining engineering and medicine (NYU Tandon School of Engineering, 2024). NYU Tandon is finding ways to invite medical science into engineering disciplines and make it a more prominent component at an engineering institution. PIB had medical research, but didn’t fully accept it NYU Tandon is clearly working to re-establish it. As for what PIB administrators would think of NYU Tandon’s current steps to restore medical research remains unknown. However, there is one thing that is certain– although medical science research will not be new, it will surely be more welcomed.
References
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Eirich, F. R. (1981). The Interfacial Macromolecule. In Polymer Science Overview (Vol. 175, pp. 143–164). AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-1981-0175.ch012
Goodman, D. (1953). Protein Structure Project. The Scientific Monthly, 77(2), 110–112.
Haack, H. (2022, August 24). Places of Public Health: Medical Research during World War II. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/places-of-public-health-medical-research-during-world-war-ii.htm
Hargittai, I. (2023). David Harker—A life for crystallography. Structural Chemistry, 34(2), 737–739. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11224-022-02011-0
Hauptman, H. A. (1998). David Harker. In Biographical Memoirs: Volume 74. National Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/6201
Jeffrey, K. (2003). Machines in Our Hearts: The Cardiac Pacemaker, the Implantable Defibrillator, and American Health Care. Johns Hopkins University Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/monograph/book/3213
NYU Tandon School of Engineering. (2024, November 21). Jeffrey Hubbell joins NYU Tandon to lead new university-wide health engineering initiative and expand the School’s bioengineering focus | NYU Tandon School of Engineering. NYU Tandon School of Engineering. https://engineering.nyu.edu/news/jeffrey-hubbell-joins-nyu-tandon-lead-new-university-wide-health-engineering-initiative-and
Paltzer, S. (2016, April 30). The Other Foe: The U.S. Army’s Fight against Malaria in the Pacific Theater, 1942-45. The Army Historical Foundation. https://armyhistory.org/the-other-foe-the-u-s-armys-fight-against-malaria-in-the-pacific-theater-1942-45/
PBS. (1998). A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: Salk produces polio vaccine. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm52sa.html
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