Russell Doolittle

Who is Russell Doolittle?

Russell F. Doolittle is an American biochemist at the University of California, San Diego whose research focuses on the structure and evolution of proteins. Born in Connecticut, he earned a B.A. in Biology from Wesleyan University in 1952, and an M.A. in Education from Trinity College in 1957. He earned his Ph.D in biochemistry at Harvard University in 1962 with research in blood clotting. He has done postdoctoral research in Sweden funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Notably he co-developed the hydropathy index, and was instrumental in determining the structure of fibrinogen. He has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1984, was a Guggenheim Fellow and is a co-recipient of the Paul Ehrlich Prize. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985. In addition, he has calculated the date of the divergence of all life forms from a common ancestor. In 2006, Doolittle was awarded the John J. Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences.

He is a critic of creationism and intelligent design and has accused Michael Behe, an ID proponent, of misquoting his work.