Dickson Despommier
{{Short description|American academic, microbiologist and ecologist (1940–2025)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Dickson D. Despommier
| image = Dickson Despommier underground.JPG
| image_size =
| caption = Despommier in 2014
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1940|6|5}}
| birth_place = New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|2|7|1940|6|5}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = American
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| fields = Parasitology
Ecology
| workplaces = Columbia University Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Department of Microbiology, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
| alma_mater = Columbia University, Medical Parasitology
University of Notre Dame, Microbiology
| doctoral_advisor =
| thesis_title = The in vivo and in vitro analysis of acquired resistance to Trichinella spiralis infections in mice.
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year = 1967
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = Vertical Farming
Medical Ecology of West Nile Virus
Urban Sustainable Agricultural Initiatives
Emerging Infectious Disease Ecology
[http://www.trichinella.org/ The Trichinella Page]
[http://www.medicalecology.org/ Medical Ecology]
[http://www.verticalfarm.com/ The Vertical Farm]
This Week in Virology
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| awards = American Medical Student Association National Teaching Award 2003
| signature =
| footnotes =
}}
Dickson Donald Despommier (June 5, 1940 – February 7, 2025) was an American academic, microbiologist and ecologist who was a professor of microbiology and Public Health at Columbia University.{{cite web|title=Dickson Despommier, Who Championed Farming in Skyscrapers, Dies at 84|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/science/dickson-despommier-dead.html|work=The New York Times|last=Gabriel|first=Trip|date=February 18, 2025|access-date=February 18, 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eoearth.org/profile/Dickson.despommier |title=Dickson Despommier's Profile |publisher=Eoearth.org |accessdate=August 23, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826113630/http://www.eoearth.org/profile/Dickson.despommier |archivedate=August 26, 2014 }} From 1971 to 2009, he conducted research on intracellular parasitism and taught courses on parasitic diseases, medical ecology and ecology. Despommier received media coverage for his ideas on vertical farming.{{cite news |last=Venkataraman |first=Bina |date=July 15, 2008 |title=Country, the City Version: Farms in the Sky Gain New Interest |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15farm.html}}{{cite magazine |last=Walsh |first=Bryan |date=December 11, 2008 |title=Vertical Farming |magazine=Time |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1865974,00.html}}
Early life and education
Despommier was born on June 5, 1940, in New Orleans. His father was a shipping line accountant. When he was a child, his parents divorced.
In 1962, Despommier received a BS in biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. In 1964, he received an MS in medical parasitology from Columbia University. In 1967, he received a PhD in microbiology from the University of Notre Dame.
Research
Despommier had research interests in the ecotone as a zone of high disease transmission; the spread of schistosomiasis, malaria, and helminths (ascaris, hookworm, trichuris) in agricultural areas; and the ecology of West Nile virus with a focus on related weather patterns.{{cite book |last=Despommier |first=Dickson D. |title=West Nile Story |url=https://archive.org/details/westnilestory00desp |url-access=registration |year=2001 |publisher=Apple Trees Productions |isbn=978-0-9700027-1-6}}
Despommier was especially known for his research on Trichinella spiralis, which led to numerous advances in understanding of the "muscle stage" of the organism, and how it maintains itself in the host for long periods of time in the Nurse cell/parasite complex (weeks to years in some cases).{{cn|date=February 2025}}
He developed his concept of vertical farming over a 10-year period with graduate students in a medical ecology class beginning in 1999, with work continued by designer Chris Jacobs and Ontarian eco-architect Gordon Graff{{cite news |last=Whyte |first=Murray |title=Is high rise farming in Toronto's future? |work=Toronto Star |date=July 27, 2008 |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2008/07/27/is_highrise_farming_in_torontos_future.html}}{{cite web |first=Lloyd |last=Alter |title=Sky Farm Proposed for Downtown Toronto |work=TreeHugger.com |date=June 14, 2007 |url=http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/sky_farm_propos.php}} from the University of Waterloo's School of Architecture.
Science outreach to the public
In June 2008, Despommier appeared on The Colbert Report, where he described the concept of vertical farming to Stephen Colbert.{{cite web |last=Ferguson |first=DB |title=Episode 4078 |url=http://www.nofactzone.net/2008/06/13/episode-4078-06122008/ |website=NoFactZone.net |date=June 13, 2008}}{{cite episode |date=June 12, 2008 |title=Dickson Despommier |series=Colbert Report |number=4078 |first1=Dickson |last1=Despommier |first2=Stephen |last2=Colbert |url=https://www.cc.com/video/t6nh85/the-colbert-report-dickson-despommier|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219162349/https://www.cc.com/video/t6nh85/the-colbert-report-dickson-despommier|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 19, 2021}}
He was a regular panel-member of the podcast This Week in Virology,{{cite web|last1=Racaniello|first1=Vincent|title=TWIV this week in virology|url=http://www.twiv.tv/|publisher=Vincent Racaniello|accessdate=22 August 2014}} produced by his colleague Vincent Racaniello.
This Week in Parasitism (TWiP) is a podcast about eukaryotic parasites started by Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier. Daniel Griffin, MD joined the team in January 2015, followed by Christina Naula.https://www.microbe.tv/
Death
Books
Despommier authored or co-authored 10 books:
- {{Cite book
| publisher = University of Notre Dame, April
| last = Despommier
| first = Dickson D.
| title = The in Vivo in Vitro Analysis of Acquired Resistance to Trichinella Spiralis Infections in Mice
| date = 1967
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last = Despommier
| first = Dickson D.
| title = West Nile Story
| url = https://archive.org/details/westnilestory00desp
| url-access = registration
| year = 2001
| publisher = Apple Trees Productions
| isbn = 978-0-9700027-1-6
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last = Despommier
| first = Dickson
| title = The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century
| url =https://archive.org/details/verticalfarmfeed0000desp
| url-access = registration
| year = 2010
| publisher = St. Martin's Press
| isbn = 978-0-312-61139-2
| ref = none
- {{cite book
| last1 = Despommier
| first1 = Dickson D.
| last2 = Karapelou
| first2 = John W.
| title = Parasite Life Cycles
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=52HdBwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1
| year = 1987
| publisher = Springer Science & Business Media
| isbn = 0-387-96486-X
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last1 = Katz
| first1 = M.
| last2 = Despommier
| first2 = Dickson D.
| last3 = Gwadz
| first3 = Robert
| title = Parasitic Diseases 2nd ed.
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PafaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1
| year = 1989
| publisher = Springer Science & Business Media
| isbn = 978-1-4684-0470-8
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last1 = Despommier
| first1 = Dickson D.
| last2 = Hotez
| first2 = Peter
| last3 = Gwadz
| first3 = Robert
| title = Parasitic Diseases, 3rd ed.
| year = 1994
| publisher = Springer Sciences & Business Media
| isbn = 0-387-94223-8
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last1 = Despommier
| first1 = Dickson D.
| last2 = Gwadz
| first2 = Robert
| last3 = Hotez
| first3 = Peter
| last4 = Knirsch
| first4 = Charles
| title = Parasitic Diseases 4th ed.
| year = 2000
| publisher = Apple Trees Productions, LLC
| isbn = 097000270X
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last1 = Despommier
| first1 = Dickson D.
| last2 = Gwadz
| first2 = Robert
| last3 = Hotez
| first3 = Peter
| last4 = Knirsch
| first4 = Charles
| title = Parasitic Diseases 5th ed.
| year = 2006
| publisher = Apple Trees Productions, LLC
| isbn = 0-9700027-7-7
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last1 = Despommier
| first1 = Dickson D.
| last2 = Griffin
| first2 = Daniel
| last3 = Gwadz
| first3 = Robert
| last4 = Hotez
| first4 = Peter
| last5 = Knirsch
| first5 = Charles
| title = Parasitic Diseases |edition = 6th
| url = http://www.parasiteswithoutborders.org
| year = 2017
| isbn = 978-0-9978400-0-1
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last = Despommier
| first = Dickson D.
| title = People, Parasites, and Plowshares: Learning From Our Body's Most Terrifying Invaders
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7TJKAAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1
| year = 2013
| publisher = Columbia University Press
| isbn = 978-0-231-53526-7
| ref = none
}}
- {{cite book
| last = Despommier
| first = Dickson D.
| title = The New City: How to Build Our Sustainable Urban Future
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pe1EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT4
| year = 2023
| publisher = Columbia University Press
| isbn = 978-0-231-20550-4
| ref = none
}}
Chapters by Despommier:
- Despommier, D. (2020). [https://shop.bdspublishing.com/store/bds/detail/product/3-190-9781786766397 Vertical farming systems for urban agriculture]. In: Wiskerke, J. S. C. [https://shop.bdspublishing.com/store/bds/detail/workgroup/3-190-83836 Achieving sustainable urban agriculture]. Cambridge: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-78676-316-7}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/sph/ehs/4.html Columbia University Biography]
- {{cite web|title=The vertical farm: Dickson Despommier at TedxMiddlebury|publisher=Tedx Talks|website=YouTube|date=December 12, 2013|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO2mVBTeBtE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/XO2mVBTeBtE |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}
- {{cite web|title=Dickson Despommier - Vertical Farming|publisher=Ideacity|website=YouTube|date=April 6, 2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ8T30_NTZI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/mQ8T30_NTZI |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Biology|Biography}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Despommier, Dickson}}
Category:American microbiologists
Category:American parasitologists
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:University of Notre Dame alumni
Category:Scientists from New Orleans