Dean Burk | |
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| Born | Dean Turner Burk (1904-03-21)March 21, 1904 Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Died | October 6, 1988(1988-10-06) (aged 84) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Other names | M. Dean Burk |
| Education | University of California, Davis |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Spouse | Mildred Chaundy Burk[1] |
| Father | Frederic Lister Burk |
Dean Turner Burk (March 21, 1904 – October 6, 1988)[2] was an American biochemist, medical researcher, and a cancer researcher at theKaiser Wilhelm Institute and theNational Cancer Institute.[3] In 1934, he developed theLineweaver–Burk plot together withHans Lineweaver.[4] Lineweaver and Burk collaborated with the eminent statisticianW. Edwards Deming on the statistical analysis of their data:[5] they used the plot for illustrating the results, not for the analysis itself.
Dean Turner Burk was born on March 21, 1904, inOakland inAlameda County.[6] Dean was the second of four sons born toFrederic Lister Burk, the founding President of the San Francisco Normal School, a preparatory school for teachers which eventually becameSan Francisco State University.
He entered theUniversity of California, Davis at the age of 15. A year later, he transferred to theUniversity of California, Berkeley, where he received his B.S. degree inEntomology in 1923. Four years later, he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry.[citation needed]
Burk joined theDepartment of Agriculture in 1929 working in the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory.[3] In 1939, he joined the Cancer Institute as a senior chemist. He was head of the cytochemistry laboratory when he retired in 1974. He also taught biochemistry at theCornell University Medical School from 1939 to 1941.[3] He was a research master at George Washington University. Burk was a close friend and co-author withOtto Heinrich Warburg.[7] He was a co-developer of the prototype of theMagnetic Resonance Scanner.[3][8] Burk published more than 250 scientific articles in his lifetime.[9] He later became head of the National Cancer Institute's Cytochemistry Sector in 1938, although he is often mistaken as leading the entire facility.
After retiring from the NCI in 1974, Dean Burk remained active. He devoted himself to hisopposition to water fluoridation.[10][11][better source needed] He and a coauthor published an analysis of cancer mortality in 10 cities that fluoridated the drinking water supply and 10 that didn't. The paper was criticized for using overly broad grouping and making assumptions about variations in racial composition of cities.Epidemiologists from theNational Cancer Institute analyzed the findings and found no significant increase in cancer mortality associated with fluoridation.[12][13] Burk considered "fluoridation as "mass murder on a grand scale."[14] Dean Burk argued on Dutch television against a water fluoridation proposal which was before the Dutch Parliament in the Netherlands.[13] He also was an avid supporter oflaetrile; an alleged cancer treatment regarded by the medical community as ineffective and potentially dangerous.[15]
For his work onphotosynthesis, Dean Burk received the Hillebrand Prize in 1952. Dean Burk andOtto Heinrich Warburg discovered the photosynthesis I-quantum reaction that splits CO2 activated by respiration.[16][17] For his techniques to distinguish between normal cells and those damaged by cancer, Dean Burk was awarded the Gerhard Domagk Prize in 1965.[18]
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