Elie A. Shneour

Elie Alexis Shneour (December 11, 1925 in Neuilly-sur-Seine − April 14, 2015 in La Jolla) was French-born American neurochemist, biophysicist, and author.

Early life

Shneour was born in France into a Jewish family, son of Zalman Shneour (Shneur) and Salomea (née Landau). His father, a known Yiddish and Hebrew poet and writer (later, recipient of 1955 Israel Prize) emigrated from Czarist Russia in the early 1900s, and his mother was from Belgium. Elie had one sibling, sister Renée Rebecca, who later became Spanish dancer Laura Toledo.[1]

After Fall of France, Shneour and his family escaped to Spain at the insistence of the mother, while the father (who was educated in Germany and spent World War I in Berlin, working in a hospital) could not believe the impending catastrophe.[2] The family left Spain and arrived at Ellis Island in New York in 1941. Shneour and his sister attended Cherry Lawn School in New York. Upon naturalization in 1944 and after graduation he joined the US Army, there rising to the rank of Captain.[1]

Shneour attended undergraduate school at Bard College in New York, where he received his bachelor's degree in Biology in 1947. He then traveled to Berkeley, California, where he received his Masters in Biochemistry from University of California, Berkeley in 1955. At Berkeley, Shneour married his first wife, Joan Brewster, they had two children, Mark Zalman and Alan Brewster.[1]

Career

Shneour received his PhD in Biochemistry from UCLA in 1958, then started his career as American Heart Association research fellow (from 1958 to 1962).[3] He became the research associate at Genetics departement at Stanford University (1962-1965), then moving to Associate professorship of Biology and Neuroscience at University of Utah (1965-1969), where he received the Distinguished Teacher award.

Shneour contributed to research for Manned Orbiting Missions program at American Institute of Biological Sciences and NASA (1966-1969).[3] Then in 1969-1971 he continued as a research neurochemist at City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California.

In 1971, Shneour moved to La Jolla with his family, where he served for four years as director of research for Calbiochem. In 1975 Shneour formed an independent consulting company, Biosystems Associates (later Biosystems Research Institutes), which he ran until retirement in 2014.[1]

He has served on national and international science advisory bodies, and was a member of scientific organizations in fields of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Neurochemistry.[4]

Writing

Shneour authored books and articles on scientific matters and political discourse. He was a fellow of Committee for Skeptical Inquiry since 1996, and an editorial board member of Skeptic Magazine from 1992 to 2008.[3]

Addressing challenges and constraints faced by researchers, Shneour argued for a working consensus between scientists and bureaucracy in charge of funding, commenting that "It is not much of an exaggeration to suggest that had the present bureaucratic structure being in operation when poliomyelitis research was in its hey day, we might today have a compact, efficient, computer-operated portable iron lung rather than two vaccines."[5]

Pondering the CSICOP role and objectives Shneour reflected on the fact that "collectively we remain a series of small islands of rational thought in the vast ocean of scientific illiteracy." In his 1998 feature article he pointed that "skeptics should forego any thought of convincing the unconvinced that we hold the torch of truth illuminating the darkness. A more modest, realistic, and achievable goal is to encourage the idea that one may be mistaken. Doubt is humbling and constructive; it leads to rational thought in weighing alternatives and fully reexamining options, and it opens unlimited vistas".[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Obituary: Elie A. Shneour", Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2015
  2. ↑ Harrison, Donald H. (April 12, 2006). "Portrait of a poet as a man: son profiles Zalman Shneour". Jewishsightseeing.com.
  3. 1 2 3 "Biography: Elie Alexis Shneour". prabook.org.
  4. ↑ "Elie A. Shneour". CSICOP.
  5. ↑ "Ariadne (notes)". New Scientist. Vol. 73 no. 1043. March 17, 1977. p. 680.
  6. ↑ Shneour, Elie A. (August 1998). "Planting a Seed of Doubt". Skeptical Inquirer. CSICOP.

Selected Works

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