In case you missed the following article, I wanted to re-post it here to congratulate our beloved Paul...Dr. Dirt:) What an amazing tribute to a truly wonderful man. We love you Paul!
A
deserved
honour
A few moments after one o’ clock on January 12th, I ducked into the back of
alumni hall, with slight trepidation. Despite the obvious formality of the
venue—high ceilings, wood panels, podium in front of framed portraits of smiling
benefactors—the room vibrated with hushed excitement. I caught the eyes of many
of my professors, smiling or whispering, and some of my peers, looking maybe
just a little more expectant than usual.
Today, after teaching in the department of natural and applied sciences for
eleven years as an assistant and then associate professor, Dr. Paul Brown was
giving his first lecture as a “full professor.”
Photo Credit: Tim Andries
Dr. Brown has taught nearly everything from environmental and biochemistry,
to plant physiology. But his specialty is soil science. Yes, he studies dirt.
Though not dirt per se, more the thin mélange of living and non-living matter
that covers the planet and makes all life possible.
Dr. Craig Montgomery,
Chair of the Chemistry Department, introduced Dr. Brown, listing his many
academic achievements.
The formality could not hide the affectionate familiarity that filled the
room. He was introducing not only an excellent chemist and leading Intelligent
Design theorist, but a friend—a well-respected friend.
Montgomery cited Dr. Brown’s eager and honest way among peers, his “gracious
and clear-minded” way in the classroom, calling him “an Israelite in whom there
is no deceit.” I couldn’t help but think of the proverb, “knowledge puffs up but
love edifies.”
At the rush of applause following the heartfelt intro, Dr. Brown rose to the
stand and paused, momentarily flushed with emotion. After recovering himself,
Brown warmed up, quickly assuming the tone of a teacher who loves sharing what
he has learned. He spoke of his journey as an academic and as a scientist, but
also as a son, a husband, a father, and teacher.
I have always been intrigued by scientists. Perhaps the result of growing up
with a father who collects wasps for a living. How does one end up studying
something so intricate, so specific, and so obscure? Is it some remarkable
passion, a twist of fate, or a prod by the economy? And how does one get there,
to become an inspired professor, a loving father, one in whom “there is no
deceit?”
For Dr. Brown it began purely and simply: His grandfather and father took him
outside to show him the stars, instilling in him a joy-filled curiosity for life
in the universe.
Surprisingly enough, our professor first set his sights on becoming an
artist. But when his family moved to the aesthetic barrens of small-town New
Mexico, and he to a high school with a newspaper that needed little more than
comics, Brown turned to the sciences. After college, starting a family, and
working as a glorified gardener (landscape horticulturalist) on an Idaho mansion
for several years, Brown discovered that “plants are just really nice to work
with.” They don’t talk back and don’t run away.
This discovery led him to his most esoteric field of study: secondary
metabolites in plants, especially glucosinolates. These are chemical compounds
that plants don’t really need for metabolism (the basics of survival) but
usually serve some other function like chemical defense or attraction.
Conveniently, these are also often attractive for us to use. Glucosinolates are
the compounds present in mustard and wasabi, and can be used to make canola oil
and bio-diesel. While conducting research on glucosinolates in canola for the
Max Plank institute in Germany, Brown would often put his young daughter to
sleep by answering the question, “Daddy what are glucosinolates?”
His other main academic focus is an often divisive issue in Christian
circles: origin theories of intelligent design. But Brown refrained from
engaging in a heated defense of the theory during his inaugural lecture.
Instead, he simply smiled as he stated, “I really like this.” He explained how
the theory gives room to acknowledge a higher power, incorporating an
intelligent agent causality while not denying physical causality.
Though he refrained from sparking a debate on the subject in his lecture,
Brown’s current theoretical morsel is worth mentioning here. From plant genetic
research, Brown has found an array of cases that suggest evolution not as a net
gain of genetic information but as a net loss. The abridged theory is that life
started out from a more genetically complex state, that there was more diverse
genetic material in the beginning than there is currently, despite increases in
species, or speciation.
After the lecture, I could not help but be impressed. Here is a first-rate
scientist and theorist. Yet his science has made him neither puffed up nor
impersonal. Despite his intensive research and profound evolutionary theories,
he regards his vocation as a father and teacher to be more important. He is
knowledgeable and gracious and possesses a curiosity clearly motivated by love,
which to me are qualities more remarkable than any number of theories or
discoveries.
Cameron Reed
