Clyde E. Keeler

Clyde Edgar Keeler (April 11, 1900 – April 22, 1994) was a medical geneticist who is noted for his work on laboratory mice and the genetics of vision. His work was instrumental in the understanding of retinitis pigmentosa. He also seems to have published the first scientific paper on non-rod non-cone visual sensation.

Clyde Edgar Keeler
Born	(1900-04-11)April 11, 1900 Marion, Ohio, US
Died	April 22, 1994(1994-04-22) (aged 94) Milledgeville, Georgia, US
Resting place	Memory Hill Cemetery, Milledgeville, Georgia
Education	Sc. D.
Alma mater	Harvard University
Known for	Studies of the Laboratory mouse, Visual System, and the Kuna people
Spouse	Dr. Johanna Abel
Children	Irmgard (Irma) Keeler Howard
Awards	Guggenheim Fellowship
Scientific career
Fields	Genetics, Medicine, Anthropology
Institutions	Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Edgewood School in Connecticut, Woman's College in North Carolina, Wesleyan College, Georgia State College for Women, Central State Hospital (Milledgeville, Georgia)
Thesis	Rodless retinae: studies on an ophthalmic mutation in the house mouse. (1926)

Short biographies may be found at the web site of Georgia College,^[1] which keeps the Clyde E. Keeler collection, and at the Guggenheim Foundation,^[2] where he was made a Fellow in 1938. His daughter, Irmgard Keeler Howard, wrote a three-page obituary for The Journal of Heredity^[3] and he self-published an autobiography, The Gene Hunter.^[4]

If I went into medicine, I might save the lives of two hundred or more persons, but if I went into research and was fortunate enough to make a biomedical discovery of lasting value, I would affect the knowledge of many physicians and through them I might help to save the lives of thousands as yet unborn. So I went into my career with my eyes open.

— Clyde E. Keeler, The Gene Hunter

References

1. "Clyde E. Keeler Collection: Biographical Note". Retrieved 27 December 2014.
2. "Clyde E. Keeler". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
3. Keeler Howard, Irmgard (1995). "In Memoriam: Clyde Edgar Keeler (1900-1994): Geneticist, Artist, Cultural Historian". The Journal of Heredity. 86 (6). doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a111630.
4. Keeler, Clyde E. (1984). The Gene Hunter: Excerpts from a life in bio-science. Philip Giles. The manuscript is in the Keeler Collection.