Irving Geis
American artist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Irving Geis (October 18, 1908 – July 22, 1997) was an American artist who worked closely with biologists. Geis's hand-drawn work depicts many structures of biological macromolecules, such as DNA and proteins, including the first crystal structure of sperm whale myoglobin.[1]
Irving Geis | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 18, 1908 |
| Died | July 22, 1997 (aged 88) |
| Alma mater | Georgia Institute of Technology University of Pennsylvania University of South Carolina |
| Known for | Scientific illustration |
Early life and education
Geis was born in New York City, and lived in Anderson, South Carolina for a time. He studied architecture at Georgia Tech from 1925 to 1927, and went on to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in 1929.[1][2] From there he attended the University of South Carolina from 1932 to 1933, graduating with a degree in design and painting in the midst of the Great Depression.[1]
Career
Geis served as a coauthor and illustrator of many biochemical books that were written by Albert Lehninger and Richard E. Dickerson, as well as the book How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff.[3] He was a frequent contributor to Scientific American.[2] In addition to his technical illustrations, Geis created the prototype Charley McCarthy puppet for puppeteer Edgar Bergen.