David Suzuki
Dr. David T. Suzuki (born March 24, 1936) is a Vancouver-born Canadian geneticist who has attained prominence as a science broadcaster and an environmental activist. He received his BA from Amherst College in Massachusetts in 1958 and his PhD. from the University of Chicago in 1961.Since 1960, Suzuki has hosted The Nature of Things, one of the earliest shows of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation after it became national, which has aired in nearly 50 countries worldwide. He was also the host of the PBS series The Secret of Life. He was a professor in the zoology department at the University of British Columbia for over 30 years (1969 until his retirement in 2001), and has since been professor emeritus at a university research institute. A Planet for the Taking, a 1985 hit series, averaged over 1.8 million viewers per episode and earned him a United Nations Environment Program Medal in 1985.
Suzuki is the author of 32 books (15 for children), including Genethics, Wisdom of the Elders, Inventing the Future, and the best-selling Looking At series of childrenÃÂs science books.
Early in his research career he studied genetics, using the popular model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies). To be able to use his initials in naming any new genes he found, he studied Drosophila temperature-sensitive phenotypes (DTS). (As he jokingly noted at a lecture at Johns Hopkins University, the only alternative was darn tough skin.) He gained several international awards for his research into these mutations.
Suzuki is the recipient of CanadaÃÂs most prestigious award, the Order of Canada (1976); UNESCOÃÂs Kalinga Prize for science (1986) and a long list of Canadian and international honours.
A third-generation Japanese-Canadian (ÃÂCanadian SanseiÃÂ), Suzuki and his family suffered internment in British Columbia during the Second World War from when he was six until after the war ended.
Suzuki was married to Setsuko Joane Sunahara from 1958 to 1965, with three children (Tamiko, Laura, and Troy). He married Tara Elizabeth Cullis in 1972. They have two daughters: Severn and Sarika Cullis-Suzuki. His Japanese name is Suzuki Takayoshi, but he is always known by his English name to the public, even in Japanese scientific and popular literature (using Romaji).
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